Strife “Damn you!” Cornered after a long, fierce fight, the conjured soldier spat a curse at Menou. It was a humanoid Primary Triad conjured soldier with tan skin and crimson hair. The conjured space that made up her true form was already gone. This single terminal was the only material that remained of her. Among the conjured soldiers made of all three Primary Colors, she had killed the most humans of all. She’d continually crafted a battlefield, waging war against humanity in order to survive. The battlefront known as the eastern Wild Frontier was the space she controlled. She needed more Red materials, always more. And the best source for that was human beings. “You don’t know when to give up, do you? Your territory was unbalanced since you kept dismantling humans and filling it up with Red.” “Don’t compare me to those lucky bastards who’re connected to the center. You people just have to open your mouths and materials come pouring in. I’m nothing like you…!” “So what?” Abbie’s voice was cool as ice. Her usual cheerfulness was nowhere to be found. “You lost the fight for a spot adjacent to the central zone, got chased out, waged war against humans, and made all of us into enemies of humanity in the process. That’s your own fault.” It was because this eastern borderland was turned into a battlefield that the Mechanical Society was feared as a hostile foe of humanity. If the Mechanical Society was left alone, conjured soldiers would abduct humans. The risk of corruption to the spirit was too great to invade, so all the humans could do was keep up a line of defense. They couldn’t even construct a large-scale ceremonial conjuring there, so the battle dragged on for hundreds of years. “You waged war against humanity, made a deal with Genom, and even accepted aid from Guardian, didn’t you? I’m amazed you managed to expand your territory so far.” Most of her space had now been consumed by Abbie. “Thanks for the meal.” With a mirthless smile, she stomped the conjured soldier’s head into bits. “There, that’s another one down.” “Yup! All thanks to you, li’l Menou. I could never have managed it without your handy Pure Concept of Time!” Having allied with Abbie, Menou used conjurings that could affect space to connect two different areas of the Mechanical Society. Spatial conjurings were a derivative of Time that Menou couldn’t manage under normal circumstances, but altering space was easy in the Mechanical Society. She could connect Abbie’s space to that of the conjured soldier in question. After that, it was just a matter of which Primary Triad conjured soldier could first consume the other’s space and materials. “So, Abbie. How many more did you want, again?” “Three to go.” Abbie’s remote-controlled body held up three fingers. As a spatial life-form, Abbie’s real body couldn’t move. It could absorb materials and expand, but couldn’t take action and transport itself around, hence the need to create a terminal to send out. Then the terminal encountered Menou. By using her Pure Concept of Time to connect spaces, Abbie could launch assaults on other conjured soldiers’ spaces—their real bodies. “Then I can make your wish come true, li’l Menou.” That was the first round in the battle defending the Mechanical Society, which took place a few months before. The Starhusk. This was the name given to the giant orbs that floated above the center of the northern continent. Those floating spheres were an immense conjuring device that had activated a thousand years prior and carved out the enormous hole in the northern continent. It was a masterwork crafted collaboratively by the Pure Concepts of Star and Vessel. Completed by combining immense amounts of materials and lives, the Starhusk had only one purpose: Otherworld repatriation. The device now known as the Starhusk was intended to activate a conjuring that would send a human from this world back to Japan by inverting the process used to summon people from that world. They wanted to go home. This was a thousand-year-old relic of a wish held so dearly by humans who were summoned to this world from the peaceful country of Japan. “…I wonder what that place is like.” It had been a few days since the group traveled from the heart of the northern continent to the central zone of the Mechanical Society. Menou stood in the building modeled after a Japanese school, thinking of the other world. Japan. Though she had theoretical knowledge of the place, Menou couldn’t begin to imagine what it was actually like. Any human born in this world would never set foot in the country called Japan, which was in another world entirely. Here, on the school grounds modeled after the architecture of such an unreachable land, sat an enormous structure. It was much larger than the school building itself, though it was cracked and crumbling in places. In its original form, it had been more than a kilometer tall. Now, as it took up what would normally be a spacious schoolyard, Menou squinted up at it. It was the environment control tower: the structure that controlled the Starhusk, one of the Four Major Human Errors. In the underground City of Ruins, Menou and company had encountered Nono Hoshizaki—the holder of the Pure Concept of Star—and learned the Starhusk’s true nature. A conjuring circle reverse-engineered from Otherworld summoning, designed to send someone back, was the one and only way an Otherworlder could return to their world. While it could only be activated once, they were very fortunate to have secured the only device with management authority over the Starhusk. Now Menou had the environment control tower, which could command the Starhusk, and a Primary Triad conjured soldier, a native resident of the Mechanical Society. That meant she currently held two of the Four Major Human Errors, who were said to be able to destroy the entire world. “…Ah, wait a minute. I suppose with Maya, that makes three.” Even with her memories restored, Maya was undeniably a part of Pandæmonium. In the seas far south of the continent was a barrier of fog, in which Pandæmonium was bound. She had managed to slip a pinky finger out through a tiny gap in the barrier, and now that pinky finger was Maya. It was only by happenstance that Menou wound up with Maya in her care, but she was now a trusted and reliable friend. That left only the Sword of Salt. If she could get her hands on it, Menou would have collected powers related to all four Human Errors that had destroyed the ancient civilization. In that respect, Menou was currently in quite an impressive position. The deadly blade turned anything it cut into salt, without exception. Depending on how it was used, it could even transform the entire planet into salt. A thousand years ago, it had turned a continent into salt, which then melted away into the ocean. Half a year earlier, the Sword of Salt had been broken and most of its blade lost. Now the remaining fragment of its tip was lodged in Akari’s chest. Menou had thrust it in there herself to stop Akari from transforming into a Human Error when her Pure Concept of Time went wild. By focusing Suspension on a single spot to prevent the salt from consuming her, Akari had lost the ability to move at all. Restoring Akari’s memories, bringing her back from the brink of turning into a Human Error, and undoing the salt transformation that threatened to erode Akari’s body. These were Menou’s goals, along with defeating Hakua. Still, Menou didn’t know where Akari’s body was. The diary where she’d written her memories only said that she’d entrusted it to her faithful assistant. But the girl who must have hidden Akari hadn’t contacted Menou over the past six months, nor did Menou have any idea where she was or what she might be doing. What she did know was the reason her past self must have entrusted Akari to this Momo person. Menou was trying to keep Momo far away. The Sword of Salt and the Pure Concept of Time. Both elements afflicting Akari were much too powerful. It would likely be impossible to save her through direct means. That was exactly why Menou sent Momo away—so her assistant wouldn’t find out about the plan Menou had come up with to rescue Akari. It wasn’t strictly necessary to save Akari’s body in order to save her life. The three components that comprised life were a body, a spirit, and a soul. Out of the three, a physical body could theoretically be replaced. As long as there was a vessel to contain Akari’s memories and soul, she could be transferred out of her current body, which was being consumed by the Sword of Salt. “……” As Menou thought about the many events of the past six months, she silently pressed a hand to her chest. There were, in fact, several possible vessels that could hold Akari’s soul and spirit. Though a soul couldn’t be replaced, and the memories of a spirit could only be supplied in specific ways, preparing a body to hold the two was relatively simple. Menou was deliberately using a Pure Concept to consume her own memories. Of course, this was partly because they’d run into powerful enemies one after another since leaving the holy land. But erasing Menou’s memories was also necessary to save Akari. If her assistant, Momo, learned what Menou was trying to do to save Akari, there was a high possibility that she would try to stop it. That was why Menou sent her away. What was her assistant doing now? Menou had no way of knowing. There was no use wondering about it, either. Menou shook her head to clear her mind. Right now, she just needed to talk to Abbie, who was assessing and rebuilding the broken environment control tower. When Menou entered, four blue butterflies were flying around inside. They glowed with Guiding Light as they landed on broken areas and spurred on repairs. The scales that fell from the butterflies’ wings were micromachines that gave off tiny Guiding Lights of their own. The walls, ceilings, and floors already fixed by the fluttering of the blue butterflies were glowing faintly. Micromachines were the smallest possible form of a Concept of Primary Color. They were minuscule conjured soldiers that multiplied on their own; when enough of these molecules collected together in all three varieties, they could become a lifeform. Abbie was repairing the environment control tower by manipulating these micromachines. Menou addressed the source of the micromachines as she entered. “Is the transfer of management authority going well?” The person commanding the blue butterflies filling in all the broken areas of the tower and producing the micromachines was Abbie. Abbie slowly opened her eyes when Menou spoke to her. “Yep, going great.” She smiled, her eyes a marine blue, and held up two fingers in a V for victory. Since arriving in the Mechanical Society a few days ago, Abbie had been holed up inside the environment control tower. Originally, the one who commanded the Starhusk was a special conjured soldier known as the Elder Astrologer, who dwelt in the environment control tower in the City of Ruins. After they followed her predictions and fought Genom, Abbie absorbed the broken and no-longer-functioning Astrologer, and by repairing the tower half, she could transfer the Astrologer’s management authority. Abbie was serving as a relay for the combined efforts of all of the Primary Triad soldiers remaining in the Mechanical Society to analyze the environment control tower. To send and receive information, she evidently couldn’t move. “It does look like most of the repairs are done now. What about reverse-engineering the Otherworld summoning circle?” “That’s going well, too.” This time, Abbie put her index finger and thumb together to form a circle. This world was constantly summoning Otherworlders from Japan. It was sometimes caused by a naturally occurring conjuring phenomenon, and sometimes by someone with clear intentions. Either way, it continued to give birth to the immense powers known as Pure Concepts. But it might be possible to stop the Otherworlder summoning—the sin that this world had committed countless times—from ever happening again. The conjuring to send someone in this world back to Japan in the other world correlated directly to the Otherworlder summoning circle, which was built into the planet’s core system. If they could analyze that conjuring, they might be able to interfere with the natural conjuring phenomenon caused by Guiding Force and make sure no Otherworlder would ever come to this world again. “…It has to be done. Right?” This part of the plan had nothing to do with Akari. It was simply one of the only ways Menou could atone for having killed so many innocent people for the sake of the world. Abbie said that the analysis was going well, which meant that her hopes of being able to interfere with the reparation circle might soon be true. Their plans were proceeding smoothly. There was just one problem. “It’s Michele…” “Yeah, for sure.” Abbie’s expression darkened as she agreed with Menou’s worries. Just as they’d expected, Michele had entered the Mechanical Society in pursuit of Menou and the others. As soon as they arrived in the Mechanical Society, Abbie had used her ability to alter space and move them to the central zone, escaping Michele and her minions. Michele appeared to have left the Mechanical Society for now, but Menou and Abbie were both painfully aware she wasn’t the type to give up on a chase so easily. “Since we got into the Mechanical Society from the northern continent, I figured I might as well send conjured soldiers to Grisarika so we can communicate…except none of them have come back. I don’t think we should get our hopes up for reinforcements.” “I’m worried about that, too. It’s been about a month since we left Grisarika Kingdom—something might have happened to Princess Ashuna…and we brought Sahara along without asking her, too.” Grisarika Kingdom was the group’s base of operations. It was one of the most powerful nations on the continent, and Ashuna Grisarika was a strong supporter of Menou and company. It was worrying that they couldn’t get in touch with Ashuna, who should still be in Grisarika Kingdom, but Menou and Abbie couldn’t very well leave to investigate. “…Perhaps we could send Sahara to Grisarika. She’s certainly looked bored these past few days, so we ought to put her to work. With a little preparation, Sahara can also summon Maya, so she’s perfect as a go-between for communicating—” “Nooo!! My littlest sister is the source of all my motivation! I don’t wanna send her awaaay!” Abbie found anyone younger than her to be adorable, without exception. Menou found herself at a loss for words in the face of such a ridiculous excuse, but she didn’t dare object to Abbie’s demands. She couldn’t afford to put her in a bad mood right now. “Well, putting the issue of Grisarika aside…if Michele makes it all the way here, can you beat her?” “I don’t know.” “…Even with my help?” Of course, she meant using the Pure Concept of Time to support Abbie and the other conjured soldiers in battle. It was safe to say that Menou and company were in the most advantageous position they’d had since making an enemy of Michele. The fact that Michele wasn’t just barging in after them was proof enough of that. And yet Abbie only shrugged. “Seriously, I have no idea.” A troubled expression crossed her lovely face, shadowing her blue eyes and tan skin. They’d taken actions against Michele in the past few days. They sent Primary Color weapons in the form of conjured soldiers to ambush her, and attacked her with the spirit corruption unique to the Mechanical Society. Abbie summed up the results simply: “How in the world are we supposed to beat something like that?” She was too strong. That was the unvarnished truth about Michele. “I guess it’s no surprise since she’s a humanoid weapon built by the ancient civilization. Her strength just defies all logic, you know? …Oh, Menou, one sec. The functional repairs are almost done, so I’ll try connecting to the environment control tower.” “…All right. Please do.” With no new ideas on how to combat Michele, they went back to the subject of the tower. Since Abbie had swallowed up the terminal of Astrologer—the calculation unit of the environment control tower—she was equipped with the features to connect to the giant conjuring construction and control it. Guiding Force: Connect—Environment Control Tower, Management Authority— Abbie connected herself to the environment control tower. Guiding Light formed patterns all over her body, spreading from the floor to the walls and the ceiling to create a giant conjuring circle. The Guiding Force flowed into the rest of the tower as well, extending through the entire building. “I still think it’s better to run away from Michele than try to…fight hERRR—” As Abbie tried to talk while making a Guiding Force connection to the environment control tower, her voice cut off abruptly. She stopped moving, too, becoming unnaturally still. “What’s the matter, Abbie?” Menou approached her cautiously. Abbie slowly raised her head. “Guiding Force connection, confirmed. Route: conjured puppet with management authority of the environment control tower and the Starhusk. Reference goal: Otherworld repatriation circle.” She listed off functions mechanically, looking at Menou with all emotion gone from her eyes. “Please input Guiding Force activation key required for management authority transfer.” Menou’s mind went into overdrive as she tried to keep up with the unexpected development. Abbie was clearly not her normal self. Then again, based on what she was saying, this had to be connected to the Starhusk management authority that Abbie had been trying to take control of. “…Are you the system Vessel created?” “Unauthorized intrusion detected. Eliminating threat.” “Huh…?!” Guiding Force: Connect—Battle Clothing, Crest—Invoke [Multi-Barrier] A tan fist swung straight toward Menou. Menou invoked a layered barrier on the spot, only for the punch to break through all of them in one fell swoop. Even that wasn’t enough to stop the fist’s momentum, and it struck Menou and sent her flying despite her Guiding Enhancement. Her back slammed heavily into the wall, knocking the wind out of her. She adjusted her posture before she hit the ground and landed on all fours. “What in the…?” Grimacing at the pain in her back, Menou looked closer at her attacker. There was no trace of free will in those marine-blue eyes. Her body was silently taking a stance to strike again. Abbie’s spirit must have been corrupted. More specifically, her terminal was being taken over. No human technology could hack into a Primary Triad conjured soldier with Guiding Force. Menou had once hacked a Primary Red conjured soldier with a Guiding Force connection, but even encroaching on that single-color soldier with a relatively simple construction came with a fair share of pain and difficulty. Surely it must be impossible to use Guiding Force to successfully take over a conjured soldier made of all three Primary Colors, who had a strong sense of self firmly established. So what could make the impossible possible? She could think of only one answer. “This really must be the Pure Concept of Vessel, then.” Menou pulled out her dagger gun. The original creator of the environment control tower was the Pure Concept of Vessel, also the maker of all conjured soldiers. As the original source of Concepts of Primary Color, it made sense that Vessel could set a trap that even Abbie couldn’t escape. Abbie attacked Menou again. Menou dodged the powerful punch, which smashed a hole in the wall behind her. As a Primary Triad conjured soldier, Abbie’s combat abilities were terrifying. Her physical force was more than a match for Menou’s Guiding Enhancement, even with her Guiding Force connection to Akari, which allowed her to access a Pure Concept. Abbie’s true self might have been affected, not just this terminal. The one saving grace was that she was only attacking Menou with simple physical combat. If she started using Primary Color conjurings, there would truly be no stopping her. “This isn’t the time or place to be fighting amongst ourselves, you know…!” Of course, they weren’t actually having a falling-out, but it would seem that way to any onlookers. The corner of Menou’s mouth twisted upward sardonically. Like it or not, she still had to fight back. Menou threw her dagger at Abbie, who was lunging toward her again. Guiding Force: Connect—Dagger, Crest—Double Invoke [Gale, Guiding Thread] The blasts of wind from its hilt sent the dagger sailing swiftly toward Abbie. Abbie didn’t show any sign of even attempting to dodge it. The dagger hit her squarely in the chest, the blade driving in deep, but Abbie didn’t seem to be in pain as she closed in on Menou. “…!” Abbie’s powerful kick landed a direct hit. Menou was sent flying out of the environment control tower, crashing into the second floor of the school building. The midnight sun was rolling across the bright night sky. It wasn’t moving quickly enough to be perceived. The pure white sun ambled more slowly than a turtle, gradually moving little by little. A priestess with pink hair held in pigtails by two scrunchies gazed up at the scene. This was a world made of Guiding Force. The Mechanical Society: an entire world created by a single human. An Otherworlder with a Pure Concept had fled into this dimension, which was only slightly separated on the spatial axis from the world Momo lived in. The power of Vessel had overflowed, giving form to unique Primary Color materials and creating an entire world. This small world that existed within a subspace expanded larger and larger, and came to be inhabited by intelligent lifeforms different from humans. In a way, the Mechanical Society could be said to exist in the gap between the world of Japan and the world that Momo and the others came from. When the artificial white sun set, it would signal that the barrier keeping this world locked away had been broken. Here in the Mechanical Society, which had been sealed away for a thousand years and loathed humanity all the while, a town was being built. There were the sounds of ongoing construction, the hustle and bustle of people carrying materials, and lively chatter as passersby went to and fro. Here in the dominion of Primary Triad conjured soldiers, whose intelligence developed independently from humanity, droves of human beings were hard at work. Michele had returned to the Mechanical Society, set up an encampment, blocked off the entrance, and gone deeper inside. Then, with the authority of the Faust, she oversaw the making of a railroad track leading from a town in the northern continent to the entrance to the Mechanical Society, then conscripted people to put to work. They were after Menou—a major criminal who’d laid waste to the holy land—and her allies. Inside the Mechanical Society, even the laws of physics were twisted out of shape. The priestess who had the biggest role to play in conquering this space wasn’t Momo. It wasn’t even Michele, though she was powerful enough to fend off Primary Triad conjured soldiers on her own. “Ms. Momooo!” Momo’s lips pursed at the cheerful voice calling her name. While it was unbelievably annoying to be addressed like they were good friends, she couldn’t ignore the voice, either. Momo turned around to see a bespectacled priestess. “…Is everything going smoothly?” “Oh, yes, quite. I’ve already completed Michele’s requested ceremonial theory on a smaller scale.” Hooseyard appeared to be in remarkably high spirits. Since they’d arrived, Momo was occasionally awestruck by her relentless cheer. “Just as I thought. If you get the flow of power right for the Concepts of Primary Color when they’re in a physical form, you can dismantle them and turn them back into Guiding Force. Ohhh, there’s nothing like that moment when a theory you had in your mind succeeds in practice! You know?” Hooseyard’s statement had huge implications. The Mechanical Society, at the border of the eastern Wild Frontier, had tormented humanity for a thousand years. She was saying it was possible to erase it from the world. “…How is my darling Michele?” “She seems to be handling it just fine so far. She’s going to be the cornerstone to the whole ceremonial hall, so I’ll need her to sit still for a while yet!” “My goodness… It sounds like we really might succeed at dismantling the Mechanical Society, then.” “Since Guiding Force is the base of all conjuring phenomena, it’s always theoretically possible to solve them. Listen, Ms. Momo. All conjuring phenomena can be resolved using conjuring.” “In theory, you mean. It’s not really that simple.” “Theories are how we analyze reality. Since we’re only human, of course there are bound to be mistakes and failures once in a while. But you won’t get anywhere if you’re afraid of a little trial and error.” Hooseyard seemed pleased with the ongoing construction of the conjuring hall. She gave zero indication that she understood how much work Momo had to do, being in charge of directing the work that put Hooseyard’s theories into practice. “You’re only ever proactive at times like these. How convenient,” Momo muttered. “But I’m sure they won’t just wait for us to make a move. We’re dealing with Primary Triad conjured soldiers who can alter space. This might even be the first time in human history that anyone has tried to fight a conjured soldier’s actual self, not just their terminal.” “Hmm, I’m not so sure. Didn’t Grisarika Kingdom bring the eastern battlefront under control? That would make this the second time.” A few months earlier, the constant influx of conjured soldiers that had caused problems for years was brought to a halt. It was a huge topic all over the continent. Thanks to this feat, Sahara’s fame spread as the governor of the Fourth. The story went that she had spearheaded the whole affair, but as someone who knew Sahara’s personality and abilities firsthand, Momo didn’t believe these exaggerated rumors one bit. “That was really just internal strife between conjured soldiers.” “Really?” “Yes.” Momo knew the truth. What really happened was that the conjured soldier called Ability Control consumed other fellow conjured soldiers. Abbie had swallowed up all the Primary Triad conjured soldiers who were hostile toward humanity. As a result, the Mechanical Society stopped actively attacking humans. “Interesting. So even advanced spatial life-forms like conjured soldiers fight amongst themselves,” Hooseyard murmured thoughtfully, contemplating Momo’s words. “Why must everyone always fight, I wonder…” “What kind of question is that, all of a sudden? You say the strangest things.” “Is it that strange? It’s strange for a girl as young as you to advance from a nun to a priestess at your age, isn’t it, Ms. Momo?” Hooseyard had zero tact, as usual. Momo grimaced. It was poor form for priestesses to discuss what their lives were like before joining the Faust, even when speaking amongst themselves. All priestesses were orphans, without exception. Children who lost their parents and had nowhere to go were brought to orphanages run by the church; those who showed particular promise were sent to monasteries to be raised as nuns in hopes of one day wearing the indigo robes of a priestess. Those individuals who had risen from anonymous nuns to become priestesses had confidence in their skills and hard work. They also never wanted to talk about the times before they became priestesses. It was an inner weakness, after all. “Isn’t it funny? I was raised by a single mother, but she died of an illness. I think I was around five years old when I lost my last living relative. I went to the orphanage, then joined the church as a nun, randomly became a priestess, and wandered around for a few years, doing fieldwork in conjuring research. Then, for some reason, the archbishop at the time recruited me into her service.” Without a hint of sadness, Hooseyard casually babbled about her humble origins. An exceptional gift for Guiding Force was a prerequisite for joining the Faust. If anyone who spent their whole life as a nun and failed to advance heard Hooseyard say she “randomly became a priestess” with no apparent awareness of her natural talent, they might very well go mad with envy. To say nothing of being chosen personally by the archbishop, the top rank in the Faust. It was nothing short of an exceptional history. “And then I got put to work in the holy land. As I believe you know, Ms. Momo, I was in charge of running the Dragon Gate.” “Uh-huh…” Momo truly couldn’t care less about any of this, so she tried to let the subject drop there. Hooseyard, however, was still staring pointedly at Momo, almost as if to say that since Hooseyard had shared her past, now it was Momo’s turn. “…You’re not expecting me to talk about my backstory now, are you?” “Aww, tell meee. I want to know more about you, Ms. Momo. Pretty please?” Even as she wheedled, she kept staring at Momo through the lenses of her glasses. Hooseyard had a way of looking at people like this sometimes. It was a look of blatant curiosity and undisguised fascination, like she was looking at a research subject, heedless of their personality or reaction. Wanting to escape that gaze, Momo reluctantly began talking. “My parents…are probably still alive somewhere, I think.” As she spoke, memories she thought were long buried began to resurface. In Momo’s earliest memories, she remembered being the child of a family that belonged to the Noblesse, the second caste, in some other nation. However, they weren’t so aristocratic that they had a mansion, servants, and other such luxuries. And, of course, they certainly weren’t royalty like Ashuna’s family. If she remembered right, her parents were modestly wealthy at best, doing court service and living in a small single house. “So how did you wind up at an orphanage if you had both parents? Were they destitute?” “Because I creeped them out, I’m sure.” “Hmm?” The death of both parents wasn’t the only way children became orphans. But Hooseyard tilted her head, apparently not understanding Momo’s scornful words. “Creeped them out? What do you mean?” “I’ve had a lot of Guiding Force since I was born.” Momo had more Guiding Force than most people, enough that it could be considered very unusual. “Yes, I know… What of it?” Even this wasn’t enough for Hooseyard to guess what Momo was getting at. Momo let out an exaggerated sigh. People with high levels of Guiding Force often had unbalanced emotions. Their spirit could be overpowered by the Guiding Force that flowed from their souls. When Guiding Force escaped with someone’s emotions, that person almost unconsciously entered a state of Guiding Enhancement. Therefore, a child could have a tantrum with physical strength greater than that of an adult. How exhausting must it be for a parent who cannot stop their child from screaming, crying, and causing destruction? “I was first brought to a monastery when I was four, so it must have been around that time. One day, they took me on a train to a festival in another town.” Momo still had memories of that day. She remembered gleefully clinging to her parents’ sleeves. They were going to a big festival in a place she’d never been. Of course she would be excited. Thinking back on it, she realized that her parents didn’t try to hold her hand. They were probably afraid of their own child. Momo was an emotionally unstable child. Her excessive Guiding Force held sway over her spirit. She sometimes clutched a toy too tightly and crushed it, no matter how sturdy; on other occasions, she’d broken furniture in a temper tantrum. Her parents were frightened that she might hold their hands too tightly and crush them, too. When they got off the train, Momo’s mother gave her some pocket money. She told her to do whatever she pleased. Momo was delighted to run around the festival. She eagerly visited the stalls, eating whatever she wanted and playing whatever games she liked. For the four-year-old Momo, it was probably the most fun she’d ever had. And when she was done enjoying the festival in this unfamiliar town, little Momo was all alone. “You can imagine what happened from there, I’m sure.” Momo never saw her parents again. There was a search, but they never showed up, and the monastery that boarded her wound up taking her in for good. Of course, Momo caused trouble there as well. Eventually, someone recognized her natural gift for Guiding Force and selected her to be a nun, a candidate for the Faust, and sent her to a monastery in the far west. Young Momo made no effort to get used to being alone. She didn’t want to admit to herself that she’d been abandoned. Instead, she clung to the illusion that she was perfectly normal, at least when she was first sent to the monastery that trained future Executioners. These days, she couldn’t remember her parents’ faces. She vaguely remembered that her father was a man and her mother was a woman, and that was the full extent of her feelings on the matter. Until she met Menou, she never considered that she didn’t need to expend any more emotional energy on the people who abandoned her. Really, she’d wasted so much time. “That’s not the reason I fight, though.” “It isn’t?” The real start of Momo’s story was when she first brushed Menou’s hair. That day, in that moment, when she saw that smile, she decided. She would live for Menou, and only Menou. Momo would do anything to save Menou, even if it meant making an enemy of Menou herself. She would join forces with anyone, and sacrifice anything. That was why Momo had come so far with Michele and Hooseyard. “I’m sure your disturbing obsession with conjuring theory has nothing to do with your early life, either, right?” “True. They’re not related.” Hooseyard smiled bashfully and touched her cogwheel-lined glasses. “It was pretty, that’s all.” That was genuinely the entire root of Hooseyard’s personality. She saw Guiding Force, and she thought it was pretty. The reason for her devotion to conjuring was as simple as that, just as some people were dazzled by the stars in the night sky and aspired to be astronomers. Momo didn’t understand it in the slightest, but it must have been a spectacle worthy of pinning your life on. Just like the smile Momo saw that day. “So then, Ms. Momo…” “Now what?” “What’s Michele’s reason for fighting, I wonder?” Michele. She was currently Momo’s boss, and Momo knew that she was a human weapon born a thousand years ago. However, Hooseyard probably wasn’t aware of that. To her, Michele was probably just a new superior who was suddenly assigned to her half a year ago. Michele was more powerful than any other human. So why did she fight? “If I had to guess…” Momo let out a long breath that vanished into the air. “…she’s probably fighting because she has no reason to fight.” “Oh, really…” Hooseyard let out a sigh, too. She had been found by Archbishop Elcami and now worked under a superior by the name of Michele instead. She smiled rather sadly. “I don’t understand that at all.” “Good for you.” Momo didn’t really care. Just as Momo didn’t expect Hooseyard to understand her, she doubted that Michele wanted understanding or sympathy from anyone else, either. After all, the person now known as Michele was too powerful for anyone else to keep up. Sahara was walking through a quiet corridor. The appearance of this building, the heart of the Mechanical Society, was largely unfamiliar to Sahara. From what she’d been told, it was the standard design for an educational institution in Japan, in the other world. The actual structure of the place wasn’t so dissimilar from educational buildings here, like the monasteries where Sahara and Menou grew up, so maybe it was just the natural result of designing a building to accommodate many people. As Sahara wandered around aimlessly, one of the classrooms she passed suddenly vanished. “…Whoa. What’s up with that?” The surrounding walls soon moved to supplement the abruptly emptied space. During the past few days, while they were lodging in the building, they occasionally saw such inexplicable occurrences, not to mention that there was more space inside than the outside would suggest. The interior must be rendered strange by Concepts of Primary Color. “I guess that shouldn’t be surprising, since we’re in the Mechanical Society…” As Sahara turned away so she wouldn’t think about it too deeply, her gaze met a pair of blue eyes. “Yo, Sahara.” The wolf talked to her lightly in a man’s voice. Ginoum. He was a wolf with beautiful blue fur. Evidently, he could turn into a humanoid form if he wished, but unlike the other conjured soldiers, he kept the appearance of a wolf unless it was necessary to do otherwise. “You guys having a tough time or what? A classroom just disappeared over there.” “Eh, that’s no big deal. Thanks to you lot, we can alter the central zone however we want now.” He was referring to the battle on the front of the Mechanical Society a few months before, which Ashuna also assisted in. The various other factions of conjured soldiers were all eliminated by Abbie’s side. “…Is this school really that important?” As far as Sahara could tell, it was nothing more than a weird building. She knew it was positioned at the center of the Mechanical Society, but she couldn’t imagine it served any function beyond that. “Yeah, ’course it is.” The wolf laughed. “’Cause our progenitor Vessel is here. Basically, this is the only place that produces Primary Color crystals, which means that, from here, you can mess with any part of the Mechanical Society to an extent.” The “progenitor” that conjured soldiers like Ginoum and Abbie was the root of the Mechanical Society, one of the Four Major Human Errors. It was the Human Error of the Pure Concept of Vessel. “Up ’til half a year ago, we were always at each other’s throats, ya know? Most everyone who’s directly connected to the center here are all older Primary Triad conjured soldiers. Every time a new one got born, the elders would eat the youngsters and get even bigger. For us conjured soldiers, that’s just what the Mechanical Society was, a dog-eat-dog world.” “So Menou and Abbie put an end to all that.” “Exactly.” It hadn’t been settled peacefully. They’d united the Mechanical Society by defeating and destroying those elders. “Thanks to them, we can finally move on to the next stage.” “Cool. See you later.” As Ginoum grinned meaningfully, Sahara promptly excused herself and returned to the room where they were staying. While it was originally an unfurnished room, furnishings had been brought in for Sahara and the other visitors. Whatever Sahara requested, Ginoum made for her. The few days since they entered the Mechanical Society had been, to Sahara, surprisingly peaceful. “It’s so nice having nothing to do, isn’t it? I finally get to relax again.” Sahara was very satisfied with being utterly spoiled here. But the other person in the room felt precisely the opposite. “Well, I couldn’t be less comfortable here.” It was Maya. The reason for her displeasure was simple. In fact, it was quite obvious from a single glance at her getup. Almost every inch of her skin was covered, far beyond the level of gloves and a mask. She looked like an entirely new method of disease control gear had just been invented. Anyone would be in a bad mood if they were forced to wear all that. “I mean, can you blame them? You know how your power is, Maya. Just think about what happened when we first came here. Right?” “Well, what about you, Sahara?!” When Sahara attempted to tactfully remind Maya that her Concepts of Original Sin were fundamentally incompatible with the Mechanical Society, she only succeeded in annoying the girl even more. Maya stripped off the layers of protective clothing and grabbed Sahara’s arm. “Your body…! My power is mixed into it, so don’t you have Concepts of Original Sin, too?! It’s no fair that you can touch them without anything bad happening!” “I mean, come on. I awakened to some weird power in the City of Ruins, remember? So I’m probably an exception or something, right? Not that I know how it works.” When Sahara fought Genom in the City of Ruin, Guiding Force had welled up in her arm. She used that as a justification. The fact of the matter was that Sahara couldn’t produce monsters just by touching something, even if she wanted to. “It makes no sense! I don’t like it one bit! I can’t stand my servant getting fawned over while I get the cold shoulder!” The pair were in the midst of this friendly argument when Sahara saw a shadow outside the window. Immediately, she tackled Maya to the floor. “Bwah?!” Maya let out a little shriek of protest—drowned out by a loud crash as something smashed through the window and flew into the room. Sahara held her breath, assuming it was an attack from Michele, but she soon realized she’d leapt to the wrong conclusion. “Menou?!” Menou had been knocked into the building from outside with alarming force. If Menou was in the middle of a fight, then something serious was afoot. “Stay down!” Sahara stiffened at Menou’s sharp command. The assailant who came leaping in through the broken window after Menou was none other than Abbie. Was she here to help? But no, something seemed off. “Wait, what happened?! Why are you fighting?!” Maya cried out in confusion, unable to grasp the situation. Her direct combat abilities weren’t that different from those of an ordinary child. Sahara held onto Maya tightly, lest she get caught in the crossfire between such powerful opponents. “Abbie’s mind is corrupted!” Menou’s explanation was short and to the point. She didn’t have time to explain in any more detail than that. Abbie launched herself off the broken window frame. Menou dropped low with her dagger tucked into its sheath, bracing herself to counter the attack. Guiding Force: Connect—Dagger, Crest—Invoke [Gale] As Menou drew the dagger and struck, she activated a crest conjuring. The slash was akin to an iai sword-draw technique, and with the added propulsive power of the Gale, it took Abbie’s right arm clean off from her shoulder. Abbie held her ground, steady even after losing an arm. As Menou stayed on guard, Abbie swung her remaining hand toward Menou’s neck in a swift chopping motion. But Sahara stepped in. “Phew!” With a sharp exhale, Sahara swept her metal right arm up from below, blocking Abbie’s attack. Menou was startled for a moment, then took advantage of the opening to press her dagger gun against the conjured soldier’s head. Guiding Force: Connect—Dagger Gun, Crest—Invoke [Guiding Branch] The Guiding Force branches that sprung forth from her blade destroyed Abbie’s terminal from within. There was a heavy cracking sound, and the gorgeous woman’s body shattered into pieces. But it wasn’t over yet. As Menou and Sahara held their breath and looked on, the same woman reappeared where her body had broken just moments ago. This was Abbie’s terminal. If she was fatally wounded, her body would break and vanish, and a new body would be provided in its place. If the spiritual control extended all the way to her true self, they would have to battle her over and over. With that in mind, Menou and Sahara stared grimly at the conjured soldier. “Nngaaaaahh! I got hacked! This suuucks!!” No, this scream clearly came from Abbie’s own free will. “I’m sorry, li’l Menou… Oh no! Don’t tell me I hurt you too, li’l sis?!” Abbie ran over to Sahara, undoubtedly back to her usual self. The other three girls’ shoulders slumped in relief, seeing that the danger was past for now. “You talked such a big game only to be a nuisance to all of us? That’s sooo embarrassing for you!” “I don’t want to hear that from a little brat who didn’t do a single thing to help! Aaargh, I can’t believe my terminal was taken over so easily!” Menou, who was accustomed to their arguing, smoothly interrupted. “I’m glad you’ve come back to your senses, but what just happened was caused by trying to connect to the Starhusk, wasn’t it?” “For sure. Hardware-wise, the environment control tower is just about completely repaired. I’d say its functions are fully restored, too. But that’s why the software side, the conjuring construction, was such a pain when I connected to it… I can’t get management authority without the ‘activation key’ or whatever it is.” “…I see.” Evidently, Abbie remembered what she’d said when she was being controlled. Menou crossed her arms, thinking. They’d hit a wall. If they could get management authority of the Starhusk, Menou could solve a lot of problems at once, including Hakua and the otherworld repatriation circle. That was why they devoted so much time to repairing the environment control tower… But if Abbie, who had far more processing power for conjurings than any human, couldn’t get the management authority, it was utterly impossible for humanity to gain control over the Starhusk. “An activation key, is it…? And Nono is gone now, so we can hardly ask her about it… Maya?” “Of course I don’t know,” Maya answered before Menou could even ask the question. “I only learned recently that the Starhusk was a repatriation circle in the first place. I’ve never even heard of this activation key thing.” “Right, of course…” It was no use, then. Surely no record remained of an activation key from a thousand years ago. Perhaps if they had any leads, at the very least… Then Menou thought of something else entirely. The defense function. It was a conjuring powerful enough to take Abbie over. Where must it have come from? A conjuring designed to protect something a thousand years old… Surely the conjuring must have been made at the same time. Which meant something, somewhere, was continuing to control the conjuring, even now. “Hellooo? Hate to interrupt your fun, but if I could have a minute…” Just as Menou was losing herself in thought, a blue-furred wolf walked into the room. Ginoum padded up to them, holding something in his mouth. “You’ll have to tell me all about how my big sis got taken over or whatnot later—” “No way! I’m taking that to my grave. You better not tell the others about it either, Gi! Got it?” “…Just look at this, will ya?” Ignoring Abbie’s plea, Ginoum put his front paws on a desk and dropped the item from his mouth onto its surface. It was a small Guiding vessel made for projecting images. The Guiding Light it produced weaved together to display a three-dimensional overhead view of something. “Just as we expected, our enemy’s up to no good in a very big way.” “How dare someone try to disrupt my precious peace… Oh, yikes.” Sahara leaned closer to look at the image and frowned. It showed the area outside the hole in space where Menou and company had entered the Mechanical Society, but the view was different than it had been just a few days ago. Many people were bustling about, laying railroad tracks and carrying materials, making new buildings and streets with a church at the center. It was as if they were developing an entire town. Maya tilted her head in confusion. “Why are they making so many buildings? Sure, it must be more convenient than when there was nothing there, but this doesn’t seem like the time to be pioneering a new town.” “Those are no ordinary buildings. It’s a ceremonial hall.” “Yep. Menou’s right.” Ginoum changed the image to a view from farther away. “A space just disappeared nearby. They’re using a ceremonial conjuring to try chipping away at the Primary Color materials that make up the Mechanical Society.” “Oh yeah… So that’s what that weird thing was earlier.” Sahara remembered the incident in the hallway moments ago. The disappearance of that classroom must have meant that a piece of the Mechanical Society itself had vanished. “Building a ceremonial hall behind enemy lines…” Sahara mused. “They’ve got a lot of nerve, all right.” “Agreed.” Menou nodded. “I expected them to build a ceremonial hall, but not on such an enormous scale… We’ll have to try to delay them, at least, even if we can’t destroy the whole thing.” “Yeah. Good luck. You gotta keep things peaceful for me around here.” “Why are you saying that like it doesn’t involve you?” As Sahara flapped her hand breezily, Menou took hold of it with both of hers. Figuring she’d been a little too flippant, Sahara tried to pull away but discovered Menou was holding on much more firmly than she’d thought. “Huh? I mean, you’re the one going out there, aren’t you? Or else we’ll have the conjured soldiers handle it or something. I wouldn’t be of any help anyway, right?” “The conjured soldiers are busy analyzing the Starhusk. Whoever’s free to help ought to do so, I say.” “B-but you’re so talented, Menou. I think you should do it.” As usual, Sahara was scrambling to find a way to push any difficult work onto someone else. Still smiling brightly, Menou shook her head. “You’ve got nothing better to do. So take care of it.” It was intoned like a death sentence. “N-no way! What do you think will happen if you send me to the place where Michele and her lackeys are hanging around plotting our deaths?!” “You’ll be fine. Besides, I have something to take care of with Maya.” “Who, me?” Maya pointed at herself. Menou nodded. “That’s right. I thought of something a moment ago, and you’re the only person who can do it.” The thing that took over Abbie was a product of Vessel, set up a thousand years ago. All they had to do to get the activation key for the Starhusk was ask its creator, the holder of the Pure Concept of Vessel, for information. “I’d like to ask you to come with me to meet Vessel. So Sahara is going, and that’s final. Good luck.” Maya stuck out her tongue at Sahara as she flounced over to Menou’s side. She clearly had pent-up anger from the indignities of the past few days. A wolf poked his head out at Menou’s feet: Ginoum. “It’s settled, then?” “Absolutely. You can take that slacker with you.” “Wait, it’s not settled. I didn’t…agree to this…!” Sahara tried to protest in fragments, but to no avail. Ginoum stretched upward, grabbed Sahara’s collar in his mouth, and yanked her down. “All right, then I’m borrowing our youngest sister here.” “Go for it. She can do anything if she puts her mind to it, that one.” Ginoum dragged Sahara out of the room, heedless of her resistance. “Say, Michele, why do you fight?” The question came out of nowhere. Michele—the priestess who served Hakua directly and held the title of Elder Magician—couldn’t help but stare at the person who had suddenly asked her this so seriously. It might have even been the first time in Michele’s short life that someone had asked her such a tactless question. It wasn’t the question itself that was rude so much as the attitude with which it was asked, as if the asker was saying “You and I are close, so you’ll tell me things you wouldn’t want to say to anyone else, won’t you?” And Michele found that she disliked this immensely. Should she punch the young woman, shout at her, or perhaps just ignore it and leave? Unable to decide, Michele settled on silently disregarding the question. As much as she respected Hooseyard’s unique abilities, that didn’t mean she actually liked her as a person. “Ah! Why are you ignoring me?” When Michele turned away from Hooseyard, a complaint followed. For such a meek-looking girl, Hooseyard could be incredibly pushy. The only way to sum it up in a word was “irritating.” “Okay, I’ll start. When I was about five—” To better ignore Hooseyard, who was now launching into her life story for some reason, Michele thought back to her oldest memories. Michele’s life had been a series of battles, one after another. She had never even thought to question why she was fighting. A thousand years ago, she fought under a different name. In fact, she had always wandered from one battlefield to the next as a mercenary, going by many different names. It was a way of ensuring that she was never identified. “Bishop Michele, I have a report.” Mercifully, Hooseyard was interrupted by one of the priestesses who had been called in to help construct the ceremonial hall. Most of the laborers were from the Commons, the third and lowest caste. Given the circumstances, however, plenty of Faust priestesses were stationed there as well. “What is it?” Michele waited to hear if something unexpected had occurred, but the priestess just stood there, motionless. “A report… A re…p-p-p-pooorr…” Scripture, 3:1—Invoke [And the oncoming enemy did hear the tolling of the bell.] Michele’s vision was suddenly filled with Guiding Light. It was a scripture conjuring. Looking up at the church bell forming overhead, Michele grabbed Hooseyard by the collar. “Wh-what? Why is she attacking… Eep!” “Stay back.” For a priestess, Hooseyard was unbelievably slow to react. Once Michele tossed her out of harm’s way, the bell swung side to side. A sound rang out that brought destruction to the entire area. It rained down on Michele, who was directly underneath it. She didn’t attempt to dodge, nor to activate a defensive conjuring. Being hit by this conjuring at point-blank range would cause any normal person to bleed from every orifice and be rent asunder. But Michele was completely unharmed. “…?!” The priestess who had launched the attack recoiled. Michele hadn’t done anything special. Her body was simply glowing all over with Guiding Light. She had blocked a powerful scripture conjuring using nothing but Guiding Enhancement. There were hardly any human beings alive who could survive a scripture conjuring unscathed, no matter how naturally skilled with Guiding Force they might be. Besides, anyone with the ability to use a scripture conjuring must have excellent Guiding Force skills. “Mental corruption… This space got to you, eh?” Michele scowled at the priestess who’d just used the scripture conjuring. She hadn’t reacted quickly because there was no need to dodge it. Scripture conjuring or not, the strength and accuracy varied greatly depending on the invoker. Since the attack couldn’t possibly harm Michele, she briefly forgot that she had to get Hooseyard out of its range and wound up doing so a bit more violently than necessary. The priestess who had lost her mind drew her sword. She activated her own Guiding Enhancement and lunged at Michele with it. Since her spirit had been corrupted by this unusual space, she could no longer even decide to run from an opponent she couldn’t defeat. Michele didn’t even spare her a glance as she caught the sword barehanded and crushed it in her grip. As the priestess panicked at the loss of her weapon, Michele placed a finger on her forehead. Guiding Force: Connect—Body, Priestess—External Infiltration— She wasn’t invoking a conjuring, she was simply sending Guiding Force into the priestess’s body. As Michele’s Guiding Force flooded the priestess’s form, she spasmed like she’d been electrocuted, then fell unconscious. People’s Guiding Forces were in natural opposition to one another. The human body would naturally reject the Guiding Force of a different person. When someone’s spirit was corrupted, flushing it out with someone else’s Guiding Force was one possible solution. “…What an annoying way to interfere with us.” Michele released the unconscious priestess, letting her tumble to the ground. A hundred priestesses with such weak mental defenses still wouldn’t pose a threat to Michele, but that wasn’t the problem. They wouldn’t be able to progress efficiently if they kept losing their workforce, especially if it caused commotions like that and caused friendly fire. There were only a few ways to deal with a conjuring that could affect people’s spirits and minds through the very space they occupied. Sighing at the lack of options, Michele walked over to Hooseyard, whom she’d thrown some distance away. “Ouch… Oh, are you done already?” “Activate the ceremonial hall.” “Huh?” Hooseyard’s eyes went round in surprise at Michele’s order. It was a natural reaction. The construction of the ceremonial hall was less than halfway done. It wasn’t even ready to be tested, let alone activated. But then those incorrigible eyes behind cog-lined glasses started to shine with anticipation. “Are you sure? It’s still very much incomplete.” “Just partially is fine, if need be. We need to show the enemy that we can hit them right back, or they’ll start pushing their luck.” “Eh-heh-heh…” Hooseyard’s expression turned blissful. “I’ll go ahead and do that, then.” There’s nothing worse than a freak who thinks they’re normal. Michele felt that fact keenly when she saw Hooseyard’s face. There were two intelligent species on the planet. The first was humanity. This included Otherworlders, too. Human beings were the rulers of the continent, convinced they were the lords of all creation. The second was Primary Triad conjured soldiers. They were spatial life-forms constructed of Primary Color crystals, minerals that generated Guiding Force. These beings were intelligent, and independent, and possessed a world of their own. While their numbers were few, they boasted skills and intellect that surpassed humanity’s. One such being, Ginoum, took the form of a blue wolf. He opened his mouth to try and bring the crowd under control. “All right, you lot, ready to listen to me now?” They were in one of the classrooms of the school building in the central zone of the Mechanical Society. Even when Ginoum put his front paws on the lectern to pull himself up taller, the hubbub in the classroom showed no signs of stopping. “No way.” “Creepy. Who d’you think you are?” “Bring out our big sis, dammit! We don’t need you, big bro!” “Hey, where did my pet go? Heeey, has anyone seen it? The pet I made. Hey, listen. It’s a little red dragon. I made it with only Primary Red Stones. It’s the cutest one I’ve made in ages…” Out of all the rebellious siblings, the one who was derailing things most was a little girl with crimson hair, wandering around asking after her pet. Ginoum ignored his younger siblings’ reactions. The conjured soldiers who were born after him had all grown up selfish thanks to Abbie’s excessive doting. “As I’m sure you know, our goal is to make an ark to part ways with the humans. And now the Guiding vessel for that purpose is complete.” “Oh, I know the one. You mean that poor, pathetic little thing?” The crimson-haired conjured soldier who’d been acting on her own agenda suddenly looked up. “If I’d made it, it would’ve been sooo much cuter. It’s so half-baked, I can hardly stand to look at it.” “The foundation was completed in time to get snatched up by Pandæmonium, right? Now it’s totally a collab with Concepts of Original Sin. Sooo funny.” “Really goes to show the potential of living organic components, though. That’s the one thing we can’t make on our own.” “Since it’s got Original Sin flesh stuck on, the soul’s pathways are disconnected. It probably doesn’t even know it’s being self-destructive. Poor thing.” “Right. Its core is on display even though it’ll die if the core breaks. I feel sorry for it.” “Dammit… You aren’t gonna listen to me, are you?” Ginoum couldn’t get a word in without the group getting off topic. Just as things were truly getting out of hand, the door rattled open. “Your big sis is heeere! Have you all been gooood?” “Of course, big sis!” A cheer rose up at Abbie’s arrival. The conjured soldier girl with crimson hair immediately jumped into her arms. Ginoum growled at how differently they were treated, but a part of him understood how his younger siblings felt. In the Mechanical Society, Abbie’s popularity was unmatched. It made sense that they would lionize her for what she’d done. After all, if it weren’t for Abbie, the conjured soldiers here would undoubtedly have been consumed by their elder siblings. “Now then, everyone. I’m sure Gi explained things already, but let me say a few words, too.” Abbie looked around the classroom, gazing into each face in turn. She had protected all of them, kept them safe. “We’ve completed a perpetual motion machine of the third kind using Guiding Force. Now, at long last, we’ll finally be able to reach our homeland.”
Chapter 138
52 min read