Stirring Sahara couldn’t take much more of this stress. “Ugh…” She heaved a heavy sigh inside the tent she’d set up away from the central zone, where she’d be camping indefinitely. It had been three days since she made the pact with Momo. Today, as usual, she was disrupting the construction of the ceremonial hall. The site that Michele and her team were building was huge. Starting at the entrance that linked the Mechanical Society to the northern continent, they’d used railroad tracks as conductors to send Guiding Force channels out in all directions like a spiderweb. They built stations at important areas, brought in the materials needed for the conjuring circle, and kept expanding the structure’s scale. Sahara was working with Momo to hinder the construction of this increasingly enormous conjuring circle. The targets of her attacks, the timing, the kinds and amounts of conjured soldiers she sent in—almost all of these were according to Momo’s instructions. She didn’t particularly mind that, though. Sahara had given up on finding fulfillment in anything long ago, so she was grateful to have a job that didn’t require any thought on her part. Sahara hadn’t been attacked since her encounter with Momo, either. Everything was going smoothly. No, the source of her stress lay elsewhere. “…Tch.” The scripture flashed. It was a signal of an incoming communication conjuring. Momo had given her this scripture so they could contact one another. Sahara glowered at it for a while, until, with great reluctance, she opened the scripture to receive the message. “These attacks are pathetic, you piece of trash. If they catch on, everything will be ruined. Besides, why are you sending in less than half of the number I instructed? When we were enemies, it worked out to my advantage that you’re so weak, but now that we’re working together, your incompetence is even more apparent. You can’t even follow instructions properly. Do you have a brain at all? Oh, I’m sorry. It’d be even worse if you tried to squeeze a thought out of that nonexistent brain of yours, so I’ll let it slide for now. Just do as I told you, please.” From start to finish, the entire thing was just a string of insults. “Go to hell!” Sahara cursed vehemently. She gave orders through her communicator to send more conjured soldiers to attack Momo, only for them to be quickly defeated. “That’s better. They won’t suspect that we’re working together if you attack me more like that. Maybe you do have half a brain after all.” After that short message, Momo cut communications. She hadn’t given any concrete instructions to Sahara, just taunts and more insults. “…I’m gonna get the better of her sooner or later, dammit,” said Sahara. Sahara’s intense dislike of Momo finally gave her some motivation. Momo closed her scripture, cutting off communication with Sahara. “That poor, unlucky idiot.” Overall, she couldn’t care less whether Sahara lived or died. Still, she felt an ounce of pity for Sahara. It was that Guiding prosthetic arm of hers. When she fought Genom Cthulha in the City of Ruins, it was finally completed: the conjured soldiers’ greatest wish and achievement. In the end, Sahara was nothing but parts. She was a valuable component that Abbie and her kin needed for the home they so dearly desired. A perpetual motion machine of the third kind. That was what the conjured soldiers, born of the Pure Concept of Vessel, wanted above all else. Momo pulled out a certain part from one of the conjured soldiers she’d just destroyed. It was a package from Abbie, secretly sent in along with the attack. She held up the part, which was mostly made with the Primary Color Red, and squinted at it. “…This is well-made.” It had been worth leaving Akari’s body in Abbie’s care. The part she received should suit her purposes perfectly. “I’ve got to do my job properly, unlike some people.” Momo couldn’t just half-heartedly follow orders like Sahara. She carefully put the item from Abbie away in her suitcase. With this, Momo finally had everything she needed. She’d been preparing for this moment since she left Menou’s side six months ago, heard the prophecy from the Pure Concept of Star while hiding Akari’s body, and secretly started working with Abbie. Now she just had to put it all into action at exactly the right time. “I imagine Ability is just about ready, too…” Abbie had heard a different prophecy that prompted her to agree to work with Momo. She wanted to secure the place that was most important to her, after all. Abbie and Momo were both working to protect what meant the most to them. The only thing Momo cared about in all the world was Menou. That would never change, even if she couldn’t be by her side. “Momo.” Someone spoke up behind her. It was Michele. She was supposed to be in the heart of the ceremonial hall, yet she had left and come all the way here. But why? The question filled Momo with fear and suspicion. Still, she couldn’t let the swirling anxiety in her chest show on her face. She put on a smile, carefully but naturally. “Michele, my darliiing! You should be in the ceremonial hall, nooo?” “The structure they’re building won’t collapse if I leave it, though the work of checking all the Guiding Force channels will stop.” “That’s not good at aaaall. Let’s go back, darliiing.” Momo deliberately kept her voice in a sugary-sweet drawl as she reproached her superior. The ceremonial hall Hooseyard had planned wasn’t concentrated all in one place. Even the railroad tracks that carried in materials were designed as part of the conjuring circle, connecting several village-sized ceremonial halls to create an impressively large ceremonial conjuring. Since the key points were dispersed across several separate areas, it was important to make sure the Guiding Force pathways were all connected. If the connection failed at any point, the ceremonial hall on that line would go to waste. Momo was working with Sahara to delay the construction of the ceremonial hall, but it was only a temporary delay. She still needed it to be completed eventually. “I just came to check on you, Momo. Out of all the priestesses I’ve met, you’re the one who shows the most promise.” “What? Whyyy? There are plenty of priestesses with more experience than little old meee.” “They’ve got no gumption.” Michele’s assessment of the other priestesses she had met was curt and dismissive. They were all very talented, it was true. When it came to carrying out the missions given to them, they far outstripped the younger Momo. But in the end, that was all they did. They had no doubts about their role, their position, their way of life. After all, they’d been given an unshakeable place to belong. The Faust. In this world, anyone in the first caste could earn plenty of glory and prestige. They went through rigorous training to be chosen and held powerful pride in themselves as priestesses. Sometimes to the point that they thought of nothing else. “But you…you would throw away your position as a priestess if it brought you closer to your goals, wouldn’t you? And vice versa. I’m sure you would work hard to climb the ladder as a priestess if it aligned with your goals.” “…I suppose sooo.” Was Michele warning her? Was she onto her? Momo peered at her but could read nothing in the other woman’s face. Momo couldn’t quite figure out Michele’s true feelings or motives, and not just in that moment. It had been the same throughout the past six months. All along, Momo was deceiving Michele. She’d needed to lead Michele into the Mechanical Society as one of the conditions for her secret, mutually beneficial agreement with Abbie. It was all to build this enormous ceremonial hall. Neither Momo nor Abbie could produce such a thing alone—the construction would require a great deal of manpower and materials—so Momo joined Michele’s pursuit of Menou to arrange the construction of the large-scale ceremonial hall. She needed a position that wielded power, one that could give orders to plenty of people. Working directly under Hakua, Michele had plenty of authority and even satisfied another requirement. So Momo strove to play the part of the skilled subordinate to get Michele to like her. She’d gotten Hooseyard to introduce them, joined the hunt for Menou, and finally reached the point where this massive ceremonial hall would be needed. But what did Michele really think of Momo? After six months of secrets and deception, it was only now that this question began to bubble up in Momo’s chest. “Weeell, as far as priestesses with gumption…what about the one in charge of this ceremonial hall, hmmm?” “…Don’t be ridiculous.” Michele grimaced. She clearly didn’t even want to explain. Momo smiled with wry understanding. Hooseyard didn’t have a strong sense of purpose. Although she was frighteningly talented when it came to the unusual field of ceremonial conjurings, she had no attachment to her position as a priestess. She wasn’t even determined to stick to the conjuring research she was so obsessed with. The fact that she would immediately suspend her research if told to was proof enough of that. Despite having no ethical scruples, she gave up immediately if someone else ordered her to. Her curiosity was strong, but her tenacity was not, so she never made a permanent place for herself. She might even give up her place in the Faust without a fight. It was only natural, then, that she could never achieve much as a priestess. “Momo. You’re gifted with a great deal of Guiding Force. In the past six months since you became my subordinate, I’ve been training you to perfect your Guiding Force manipulation, so much so that you might even be able to surpass the amount of power people can have while remaining human.” “Yes, I knooow. Thank you veeery much.” It was similar to something Archbishop Elcami had said to her in the holy land, yet with the opposite implication. The woman, nearing her eighties, had suggested that Momo would be better off without that power. Just like Master Flare, she said Momo would be better off leaving her natural talent as nothing more than that. But Michele, in her twenties, affirmed Momo’s power. After Hooseyard had let it slip, Momo knew that Michele and Elcami were one and the same. Based on Michele’s behavior, she clearly had no memories of her time as Elcami. If they were the same person, why did they have such opposite stances? “I’m not interested in prying into your past from before you came to work for me. It doesn’t seem necessary.” Momo could never truly understand Michele. There was no way she could figure out her feelings now, when she’d never even tried to think about them before. Besides, no matter what Michele might think or feel, Momo’s decision would remain the same. “That’s truuue. The present is way more important than the past anyway, you knooow.” “…I suppose.” So there was no deeper meaning to this conversation. “All right, my daaarling Michele…” Momo smiled brightly at her superior. She had looked up to Michele as her boss for the past six months. Even while they were pursuing Menou, they still resolved other incidents along the way. They’d spent plenty of time cleaning up the messes that Hooseyard made, too. Those six months certainly weren’t wasted idling away. And if Momo was honest with herself, she realized that she didn’t dislike Michele, not at all. “…I’m going back to my mission now.” Momo chose to turn around, leaving her back undefended. Was Michele going to kill her? She was prepared for that possibility. Clearly Michele suspected something was amiss. If she swung her broadsword to slice off Momo’s head, Momo wouldn’t be able to protect herself. Just this once, she put her life entirely in Michele’s hands. If Momo died now, it all would have been for nothing. That moment of vulnerability might have been the first time Momo chose to prioritize Michele over herself. But Michele didn’t make a move. Was she sparing Momo’s life out of compassion, or letting her go as part of a calculated strategy? Or had it just been Momo’s imagination that Michele suspected her in the first place? Whatever the case, in that moment, Momo abandoned the relationship she’d built up for the past six months and betrayed Michele. She had no regrets. Of course she didn’t. This had always been the plan. Even after Momo’s back was out of sight, Michele stood there. There were a few reasons she’d decided to let Momo go, even though she was clearly harboring intentions of deserting. For one, it was true that Michele held Momo in high esteem. She was so bold as to seem out of place in the organization, yet she upheld a delicate code of conduct and a careful sense of balance. Her battle instincts were impressive, and she overflowed with talent yet to reach its full potential. There were few personnel with so much promise. It would be a waste to dispose of her now. But she would also be of no use to Michele in her current state. The “obsession” that motivated all of Momo’s actions was critically at odds with a priestess’s way of life. The best choice, then, was to let Momo go and allow things to unfold—then to crush whatever plan she was putting into motion. Once she tasted that failure, Momo would yield to her fate as a member of the Faust. Though Momo would no doubt be surprised to hear it, Michele considered Momo better suited to the Faust than Michele herself. And while Michele didn’t remember this, when she was still called “Elcami,” she had once thought the same thing about Orwell. Michele closed her eyes. Fighting was her entire life. The era of the ancient civilization had been the height of conjuring technology…and the time of the most war-torn era between humans in all of history. The Grisarika Conglomerate. It was a company that led the global market at the time and faced multiple nations in battle at once. Most of the population was pulled into the fray. The more the war grew in scale and extremity, the more human rights were cast aside. The experiments to create an imitation Dragon were one such instance. Michele became a subject of that experiment because of a job she took on as a mercenary. Fortunately, she proved compatible with the experiment and gained a great deal of power. As a result, she was thrust onto the battlefield and gained comrades there, only for them to fall one after another. Michele was the only one who kept surviving. Where do you think we belong? There must be a place for us somewhere, right? Who was it that had asked her that? Whoever it was, they certainly weren’t alive anymore. So many people were driven out of their homes. They had just wanted a place where they could be safe. Naturally, Michele felt the same way. She wanted a home. The thought slowly consumed her, though it seemed the only place she belonged was on the battlefield. That was when Hakua Shirakami appeared. They were enemies at first. Then, after clashing a few times, they became allies. The group now known as the Faust was originally a band of weaklings who clung to Hakua Shirakami at the time. They were her followers. And yet, how things changed in a thousand years. The times had now left Michele behind. She was an ancient relic herself, still hanging on to Hakua, her only remaining salvation. “Maybe this is where I belong.” Though she tried saying it aloud, she still didn’t know if the place where she now stood was the home she had longed for all those years. Primary Color conjurings could create a space for the conjurer. For some reason, Michele suddenly felt terribly jealous of the conjured soldiers’ unique power. As soon as Maya and Menou entered, they knew. Humans could not survive in the space inside the monolith. Unlike when they first entered the Mechanical Society, there wasn’t a Primary Color stone in sight, nor any colors swirling and mixing in the air. There were just plants, no different than in the normal world. But the wide-open space was utterly solidified. It was as if the scenery and even the air were made of solid matter. The space was so dense that Menou, with her connection to the Pure Concept of Time, could sense that even the flow of time was different there. If they were inside for too long, there was no telling how many days might pass outside. Menou experimentally reached out toward the scene in front of her. “Eek!” Maya gave a startled squeak at the hard clunk that echoed around them. Menou’s hand was blocked by what seemed like empty space. It felt so firm and heavy that it produced a dull sound. “This certainly is remarkable.” Menou’s tone was one of honest amazement. The word “remarkable” hardly began to describe the space. Everything in front of them was made of crystallized power so pure that it could no longer be categorized as solid, liquid, or air. Everything had been thoroughly, uniformly coated in color. It was the true heart of the Mechanical Society. It wasn’t like the incomplete world on the outer edges: This was a world that had been completely painted by Concepts of Primary Color. “It looks like I really will need to depend on you here, Maya.” “Hee-hee. You’re so lucky I’m here.” Maya reached out, brimming with gleeful self-confidence, but her brow furrowed at the strange sensation, like trying to push through clay. “Hmmgh, it’s so heavy…” When they initially entered the Mechanical Society, Maya could change the Primary Color stones into monsters just by touching them. Since she had a Pure Concept attached to her body, she could encroach on the world with Concepts of Original Sin without a conjuring. Here, she repeated that process. The world that had been solidified with Concepts of Primary Color crumbled where it was corrupted by the Pure Concept of Evil. Primary Color materials weren’t physically stable, which was exactly why a skilled conjurer could reshape those materials however they pleased. The Primary Colors of a newly born world made ideal fodder for Concepts of Primary Color. But the world inside the monolith was far denser, which was why it felt heavy to Maya. Even as the child of Original Sin, she couldn’t consume the space without careful concentration. And this entire Primary Color world was full of that density and level of completion. There was no way anyone could penetrate such a space. “Darn it, Gadou… I can’t believe she’s alive. I mean, that’s not the problem, you know? It’s not like I wanted her to be dead, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t happy to hear she survived. She’s saved my life before, too.” Countless monsters crawled out of Maya’s shadow as she grumbled to herself. Guiding Force: Sacrifice—Chaos Collusion, Pure Concept [Evil]—Summon [Creepy-Crawly] Used as sacrifices for an Original Sin conjuring, the monsters began to melt and ooze together, merging into a giant amoeba. The liquid life-form began to permeate the space around them. The places it touched were stained dark, and the scenery began to fall apart. The broken pieces were absorbed into Maya’s shadow until, finally, an empty path formed, big enough for Menou to proceed. For them to enter at all, Maya had to use her Concepts of Original Sin to destroy the space around them. Evidently, Abbie had meant it literally when she said even conjured soldiers “couldn’t get in there.” The space was made of Concepts of Primary Color that had been compressed to the extreme. There was nowhere for other concepts to squeeze in. Maya, leading the way for Menou, had the only ability in the world that could encroach on that space. “But she never even tried to contact me?! I think that’s horribly rude!” As Maya forged steadily ahead in a place no one should have been able to enter, she puffed up her cheeks and whirled around angrily. “Wouldn’t you agree, Menou?!” “Yes, yes. I understand.” Menou patted Maya’s head. Maya smacked her hand away crossly, even though Menou wasn’t trying to be dismissive. “Hakua’s been alive this whole time, Nono was in that weird underground city, and now even Gadou’s alive? At this point, maybe Ryuunosuke’s alive, too!” “No, I doubt it. It wasn’t the real Nono who was alive down there anyway.” The person they met in the City of Ruins was just an information terminal that Nono had left behind for the future. It was called the “Astrologer,” and was basically just running a program. Besides, the Pure Concept of Dragon had been cut by the Sword of Salt. There was no chance that he could still be alive; his body must have been reduced to nothing but salt. “…Got it.” Maya’s shoulders slumped. Deep down, she must have sincerely hoped he might be alive, even as she hid her feelings in a litany of complaints. But while Pure Concepts could transcend even death, they still had limitations. The holder of the Pure Concept of Dragon had fought Hakua and turned into salt. That meant he died a thousand years ago and could never be revived. “No, you’re right. That’s just how it goes.” Quietly reminding herself, Maya resumed destroying the world that spread out inside the monolith. As Maya moved, her surroundings warped and rippled around her. She was breaking the space itself. Since the conjured space had physical mass, breaking through it one piece at a time was the only way to get anywhere. So Maya kept transforming the space around her and stashing it away in her shadow. It was akin to a miner digging out ore to proceed deeper into a mountain. Without Maya, Menou wouldn’t have had any way of breaking through the space. But while it seemed to be going smoothly, Maya was still using Pure Concept of Evil conjurings. “I want to ask you something, just to be safe… Maya, how much of your memory do you have left?” “…I’m fine for now, don’t worry,” Maya replied, keeping her voice level. “I’ve forgotten about Japan, but I remember everything that’s happened since I came to this world. I haven’t used actual Original Sin conjurings all that much, you know, because I don’t want to turn back into Pandæmonium.” Silence fell between them. Just as Maya would go back to being part of Pandæmonium if she overused her Pure Concept and spent all her memories, Menou would turn into a Human Error if she used up all of hers. No, no, she reminded herself silently. A person from this world had never held a Pure Concept before, unlike a summoned Otherworlder. If Menou was consumed by the Pure Concept of Time, there was no guarantee that she would turn into a Human Error. There was even the possibility that something else would happen, perhaps something far worse. “Maya…do you want to go back to your old world?” “……” Maya was quiet for a moment, then shook her head. “You’re sure?” “Mm-hmm.” Maya nodded. “There’s no one waiting for me there anymore.” She wanted to go back to her mother. That was Maya’s dearest wish. But that dream could no longer come true, even if she did go back to her old world. “So you can use the otherworld repatriation circle however you want, Menou. I’ll grant you my permission.” “…Thank you.” Menou smiled at Maya’s kind words and patted the girl’s black hair again. While Maya looked a little embarrassed, she didn’t push Menou away this time. “Are your memories in bad shape, Menou?” “Well…” Menou gazed into the distance, caught off guard at having the question turned back on her by someone else who was also losing her memories. She put her hand to her breast pocket, where her fingers brushed against the diary that recorded all her life’s memories. Even now that more than half of the contents were nothing but words on a page to her, Menou kept using Pure Concept conjurings. “I think I can stay human at least a little longer.” Maya fell silent. That answer was far more concerning than she’d expected. “So what do you think Ran Gadou’s goals are?” “Why ask me? You probably have a better idea than I do, Menou.” “Well, you know Gadou as a human far better than any of us, don’t you?” “Hmm, I’m not so sure. Gadou was always very…unusual, to say the least.” “…Even more than Nono?” “To the point where Nono interpreted for her.” “Oh dear…” Menou tilted her head back and groaned. The version of Nono Hoshizaki they’d met in the City of Ruins beneath the northern continent seemed approachable at a glance, but was self-centered beyond belief. Dealing with someone even stranger was bound to make for a difficult conversation. “It might be hard to negotiate with her, then.” “I don’t think it’ll be so bad. Unlike Nono, Gadou never lies. I’m sure she’ll just tell us the activation key for the otherworld repatriation circle without a fuss. Which is why I want to ask…” Maya turned around and stared straight into Menou’s eyes. “What do you plan to do when you get your hands on the repatriation circle?” She couldn’t answer right away. “Erm… World peace?” “Come on. I’m not looking for a silly joke answer.” Maya glared at Menou, who just shrugged. One of the main reasons she was so focused on the otherworld repatriation circle was to rid the world entirely of summoning conjurings. If she could destroy the path to the other world, no human would ever be brought from Japan again, whether by accident or intentionally. If she could achieve that goal, no new Pure Concepts or Human Errors—both of which had caused such suffering for so many—would ever be created again. Answering “world peace” wasn’t a lie. “Right. Yes. Hmm. What should I do…?” Menou’s memories were being consumed by overuse of a Pure Concept. Sending Hakua back to her world wouldn’t solve that. Menou had already given up on saving herself. Perhaps Maya had caught onto that somehow. The small girl spoke in an overly cheerful tone. “Why don’t we ask Gadou how to preserve memories? Wouldn’t that be great? Then you’d be saved, and so would your friend. And me, too, of course. It’s a happy ending all around!” “I’m not so sure about that.” While it might sound like a great idea, the way Ran Gadou maintained her memories wasn’t practical. From the sound of things, she was splitting and multiplying her spirit, dividing her memories and continually creating tiny Human Errors to keep her original personality in place. Could someone who kept splitting their own spirit for a thousand years stay sane after all that? “Losing your memories is a problem, of course, but I suspect having too many memories can be just as bad in other ways.” “Right…” Maya slumped dejectedly. Menou hadn’t wanted to upset her, of course. She patted the girl’s head again. “What sort of space is this anyway?” she asked. It didn’t look like the world Menou knew, though she didn’t think it was modeled after Japan. Surely it wasn’t how things had looked a thousand years ago. “If I remember right…she said she was re-creating a fantasy RPG.” “Are-pee-gee?” “Mm-hmm.” Menou’s brow furrowed at the unfamiliar term. Maya pointed at the scene surrounding them. “She said it was her dream to create the world she pictured in her mind.” A thousand years ago, five people were summoned to another world against their will and gained powers they never asked for. But there was one thing that separated Ran Gadou from the other four. “Gadou actually liked her power.” The space Menou and Maya occupied was built to be a game world. It was constructed to follow rules different from reality. “Is the level system part of that?” “Yup.” The level system applied to anyone who entered the monolith. The more they defeated others, the easier it was for them to win further fights. This distinct feature of the Mechanical Society was part of Gadou’s dream. Normally, the only way to get inside was to turn one’s body into Concepts of Primary Color. By maxing one’s level and replacing a limb with a Concept of Primary Color, like a Guiding prosthetic, a person could become part of the game world and finally gain access. The outer edge of the Mechanical Society where Abbie and the other conjured soldiers dwelt was the bridgehead to this, the densely solidified interior of the monolith. It was like a free trial area, meant to remake people into characters that could play inside this game world. That was how humans like Genom Cthulha had entered the monolith. “But you don’t need to bother with all that because you’ve got me!” Maya kept pressing onward with her unique ability to erode that world. Normally, there must be some elaborate method of proceeding that adhered to strict rules. Maya and Menou just ignored the buildings, monsters, and any people who approached to talk to them as they went along. “Hee-hee. I’m not going to lose to stupid old Gadou after she went and abandoned me—eek!” Maya’s triumphant speech turned into a shriek. The scenery had suddenly started falling apart in front of her. All the colors that painted their surroundings broke down into particles of light and swirled in the three Primary Colors. Micromachines, the smallest unit of Concepts of Primary Color, gathered in front of Maya and Menou. “Damned bugs.” It resembled the vortex of Guiding Light Menou had seen when she fought Sahara long ago. The thing that swallowed Sahara up back then must have been the same as what was now in front of them. The function that had analyzed and reproduced Sahara was now doing the same to the environment, growing even bigger and blocking their way. “Bugs in my world.” “No matter how many times I crush them, the maggots keep popping up.” “They’ve made it all the way to this place?” “You dare bring emotions into this world?” “Wh-what is this?!” Evidently, Maya didn’t know either. As she froze in panic, Menou drew her dagger and prepared herself. “I’ve seen something like it once before… This thing isn’t Ran Gadou, is it?” “Of course not!” Maya practically screamed. “She’s not some weird ball of light!” Even when the holder of a Pure Concept consumed all their memories and turned into a Human Error, they almost always retained a humanoid form. Besides, the Pure Concept of Vessel supposedly still had her memories, which was all the more reason she would still look human. “Then this must be some anti-cheating system, I’d assume.” “Damned bugs.” They couldn’t very well expect to enter the world of Vessel and not encounter any obstacles at all. “Crush the bugs.” “Keep our world safe.” “Must erase all annoying bugs.” The swirling light swarmed toward Menou and Maya. It was almost done. Hooseyard couldn’t stop smiling as she looked at the ongoing construction of the ceremonial hall. A normal priestess might never witness the construction of such a large-scale ceremonial conjuring hall. The ceremonial hall of Hooseyard’s dreams was being built before her eyes. For a conjurer, there was no greater joy. “Still going smoothly?” “Oh, yes, very much so!” Hooseyard beamed brightly at Michele. Her theory was designed to dismantle the Guiding Force of the Mechanical Society and circulate it. Since it was possible, they’d built the ceremonial hall and carried out a smaller-scale test, which succeeded. Now that they’d erased one small piece of the Mechanical Society, proving that it worked, the workers at the construction site were more motivated. But of course, there was no telling what might happen when it was done on such a large scale. Risk was inevitable when attempting something that had never been done before. There might be a result even Hooseyard wouldn’t expect. Which was all part of the fun. Hooseyard’s eyes sparkled with excitement. Although she could never understand how anyone put their lives on the line in battle, Hooseyard had no problem with the dangers involved in conjuring experiments. “Good. You were born to make this ceremonial hall, if you ask me. As long as it goes well, I don’t care if you die in the process. Use your very last breath to accomplish the mission if you have to.” “Well, I care very much! I don’t want to use my last breath. I still have lots of theories I want to investigate, so don’t look at me like… Why did you just click your tongue at me?!” Michele didn’t seem bothered by Hooseyard’s protests. “Well, I was worried about all this Mechanical Society business, but luckily Ms. Momo is handling our defenses. She’s such a big help.” “…Hmph. Obviously.” “You’re right, of course. That Ms. Momo really is talented, even though she’s still sooo young!” “You are such a moron.” “Wh…why are you insulting me all of a sudden…?” Hooseyard had praised Michele’s assistant only to get insulted for it. Her shoulders slumped at the unfairness of it all. Michele just snorted at her. “It’s easy to control the battlefield if you’re colluding with the enemy.” “Pardon?” Hooseyard blinked, utterly confused by Michele’s statement. “What do you…” “Wait.” Michele stopped Hooseyard mid-sentence, her expression darkening. “What the hell is that?” Hooseyard followed Michele’s gaze. When she saw what the other priestess was looking at, she was shocked as well. It was a blue chrysalis. An enormous one at that. It was so large that it was difficult to tell how far away it might be. The chrysalis was cracked, and something was beginning to emerge. Slowly, a blue butterfly crawled out. The newborn butterfly, too, was huge. If it spread its wings, perhaps its wingspan would become the sky itself—at least, it was enormous enough that such a thing was easy to imagine. As if responding to the thoughts of those witnessing its birth, the butterfly did begin to spread its wings. Blue butterfly scales rained over the Mechanical Society. And a moment later… A bombing from the sky filled Michele’s vision with flames. The fire spread into a rapidly growing blaze. The explosions caused the ground to rumble like the surface of a drum, the bursts of the bombs resounding. “It can’t be…” Even Michele couldn’t hide a shudder at the sudden transformation of the landscape before her eyes. All she could do was stand, frozen, and look up at the sky. It all started with the enormous blue butterfly that had appeared so unexpectedly. After Momo left, Michele had returned to the ceremonial hall site and was talking to Hooseyard when the butterfly emerged from a chrysalis and sent scales raining down with a flap of its wings. That was when the battlefield appeared. It had to be some kind of spatial conjuring. The butterfly scales must have overwritten and altered the Mechanical Society, changing the rules of the space. Which begged the question: What were the laws of physics now? Michele looked around with a grim expression. There were fires everywhere, with priestesses fleeing in panic. Michele raised her head and glared into the sky. The blue butterfly was nowhere to be seen. An entirely different enemy had taken its place. A squadron of aircraft was carpet-bombing the entire area. Michele’s view of the battlefield was so familiar as to be nostalgic, harkening back to her mercenary days in the era of the ancient civilization. One of the aircraft swept low and scattered shockwaves as it skimmed over the site. There was an even louder explosion, and the ground shook. Such destructive capability was unthinkable in this era, thanks to the Faust deeming most conventional weapons taboo, even keeping a tight control on Guiding guns. “Have the conjured soldiers been mass-producing weapons…?” If so, that would mean the priestesses were hugely outmatched in military strength. Flames were swirling all over, yet the bombing didn’t stop, as if the enemy wouldn’t be satisfied with just reducing the place to a wasteland. Amid this onslaught, Michele spotted Hooseyard. She was standing stock-still. Not a surprising reaction, given the circumstances. Michele grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. “Snap out of it!” “…Michele?” The look in Hooseyard’s eyes was so startling that Michele drew back. Her eyes were completely unfocused, seeming to gaze lifelessly at nothing. It appeared to be the look of someone who couldn’t accept the reality they were seeing. But in fact, it was quite the opposite. Hooseyard was the only one who was looking at reality. “What’s the matter? This is a psychic attack.” At that, Michele immediately looked around again, straining her eyes, but she still couldn’t see what was actually happening. Realizing this, Hooseyard looked disappointed. “Ahh… That’s too bad. Are they making this from Michele’s memories? But it doesn’t look like the conjuring touched Michele’s spirit…so the source must be elsewhere… I’m sure those scales must have made a conjuring circle…” Hooseyard went on muttering to herself. Michele shook Hooseyard’s shoulders again to keep her from getting completely lost in thought. “Hey. Cut it out!” “…Huh? What?! Oh, Michele! When did you get here?!” Apparently, she hadn’t even paying attention to their previous conversation. Thinking to herself that Hooseyard was in a world of her own in a different way from Otherworlders, Michele questioned her carefully. “So this is an attack on the spirit. It’s in our minds?” “Y-yes, that’s right.” Hooseyard finally focused on Michele. “It’s…a re-creation of an artificial world—a simulation. They dismantled part of the Mechanical Society and rebuilt it as a mental world. I’m guessing this is a combination of spatial conjuring and mind control.” “There’s no danger to the lives of people affected by this conjuring?” “I’m not so sure… They’ll only faint, but if it goes on for too long… Can you say someone is still okay if their spirit dies?” Of course not. Michele forced herself to resist the rising urge to yell at Hooseyard for her disregard of the human mind and continued with a more important question. “Can you make this conjuring stop?” “Well… I think it’s using your memories, Michele. Memories that you aren’t aware of.” “What?” “I mean, it doesn’t feel like anything’s messing with your mind, does it?” Michele fell silent. Hooseyard was right. Michele didn’t have any sense that she might be the source of the problem. “In other words, they’re attacking part of your spirit that isn’t the current Michele. The spirit is made up of memories, after all… I guess having holes in your mind really does make for a huge vulnerability. But then again, most people probably wouldn’t have to deal with spirit corruption in their lifetimes…” She got the gist of what Hooseyard was trying to say, though it was hard to understand. Michele could guess what might have caused this vulnerability in her spirit that made her susceptible to such conjurings. Michele’s memories were regularly reset. After all, she had no memories of the past thousand years. She remembered the first twenty-odd years of her life a thousand years ago, and the version of herself that had come to be known as “Michele” starting in the holy land about six months ago. That was it. This conjuring targeted the massive thousand-year gap in Michele’s mind as a weakness in her mental and spiritual defenses. “Damn it all…!” she spat. “If this is a psychic attack, we just need to destroy the source, right?” “Hmm… Yes, over there. The power source is the spot where that blue butterfly was. If you destroy the conjured soldier terminal there, I think this conjuring would end.” Michele took off running, determined to reap what her incomplete nature had sown. It was a considerable distance to where she’d seen the butterfly before the battlefield appeared, but with her Guiding Enhancement, she could get there in no time. But when she reached the outskirts of the construction site, there was a flare of heat and the clamor of whirling rotors. She looked up at the aircraft that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere and grimaced. “…An attack heli?” Hovering above Michele at a very low height for an aircraft was a black machine with a sleek, aerodynamic form: an attack helicopter. It had two Guiding Gatling guns that could reduce a human to a smear of blood and anti-tank rockets that could blow through most defenses. This wasn’t like the other aircraft that were indiscriminately attacking the town. It was specifically designed to counter ground weapons of the ancient civilization. Fully autonomous, with no pilot nor passengers, this military weapon was said to be the predecessor to today’s conjured soldiers. And, of course, it wasn’t something any human could fight alone. “Just like the good old days.” Michele clicked her tongue in irritation just as the triple-barreled autocannon opened fire. She used the agility granted by her Guiding Enhancement to move at supernatural speeds, fleeing the line of fire. This level of firepower made modern Guiding guns seem like toys. The bullets carved holes in the ground with heavy thudding sounds. These Guiding bullets were designed to break through the armor of a tank. If they hit Michele, they would blow her body to pieces. Michele raised her broadsword in her right hand. Guiding Force: Connect—Sword of Judgment, Crest—Double Invoke [Current, Compression] With a flash like lightning, the compressed water formed into a blade and slashed the attack helicopter. The conjured weapon from a thousand years ago was unscathed by Michele’s crest conjuring. It only lurched a little as it kept pursuing her. Modern crest conjurings were no match for the armor of a weapon developed at the height of conjuring technology. The launcher under the helicopter’s wing fired several shots in rapid succession. They were anti-tank rockets. When Michele dodged them, they crashed into the ground behind her with enough force to pierce heavy alloy armor. There was an earth-shaking explosion, followed by a pillar of sand and dirt. Such destructive force suggested that it was useless for any mere human to try to fight back, but the only emotion that arose in Michele’s chest was annoyance. “…What a pain.” She decided to stop dodging. Perhaps assuming Michele had given up, the helicopter hovered in the air and aimed its Gatling gun directly at her. The barrels of the gun roared to life. A torrent of massive Guiding warheads rained down on Michele, pummeling her Guiding Enhancement-strengthened body. They pierced her skin, rent her flesh, and sent up sprays of blood, yet the shape of the person called Michele didn’t crumble. In the face of this inhuman toughness, electronic noise coursed through the battle-ready intelligence of the autonomous attack helicopter. Guiding Enhancement or not, a human body that could hold up against machine-gun fire that could lay waste to a steel plate—this was outside its range of calculations. The helicopter hurriedly started to target her with the anti-tank rocket. But whether it fired or not, the result would be the same. Michele’s arm shot out. She’d thrown her broadsword directly at the autocannon. With Guiding Enhancement that outstripped any other human’s, Michele’s thrown sword broke the sound barrier and ripped through the atmosphere, hitting the helicopter’s armor head-on and destroying it. Guiding Force: Connect (Conditions Met)—Sword of Judgment, Crest—Invoke [Compression] Pierced by the broadsword, the attack helicopter crumpled inward, crushed like a tin can. There was an explosion in midair—presumably the remaining rockets had caught fire. “…That was excessive.” Having brought down the helicopter, Michele only narrowed her eyes dispassionately. She went to the crash site and retrieved her Sword of Judgment. Despite the rough treatment, there wasn’t a scratch on it. It was built to withstand her immense strength, after all. Michele stomped past the ancient machine that had been reproduced from her own memories and forged onward. She had absolute confidence that she could defeat any opponent. Whether it was a Primary Triad conjured soldier, a Pure Concept holder, or a high-tech weapon from the ancient civilization, Michele knew that victory was hers for the taking. But she stopped in her tracks when she came face-to-face with someone unexpected. “…Well, don’t you look happy. Did something good happen?” Camouflage pants. Protective combat boots. Covered in mud. Michele knew this woman better than anyone. “What the hell…” “Come on, tell me. How did I end up like that?” This battlefield was constructed from Michele’s memories. And standing in front of her was her past self—the mercenary from the ancient civilization, Michele. Sahara was speechless at what she saw in the distance. An attack from the sky. No military in this world could ever use such a tactic. The Faust had banned the development of aircraft for a very long time. As she watched the attack unfold in the distance, Sahara could understand why. It was nothing like any battle she’d ever seen before. “That’s a kind of spirit corruption, see.” Ginoum was suddenly by her side. “Is it?” Sahara asked blankly. It certainly didn’t look like a conjuring that was working on someone’s mind. The battlefield appeared to be very real. “Sure is. That’s a world being reproduced from someone’s memories. It uses things the target wants to forget: trauma, terrible events. The spirit attack slams all that in their face, and it looks like this person had some real doozies.” Another explosion echoed. Despite being so far away, they could still feel the ground rumble and the air blast in their faces. “If we had an attack this strong, why didn’t we use it right away?” “It’s not that easy,” Ginoum responded. “Big sis must have poured most of herself into this conjuring as materials. All to reproduce that battlefield.” Primary Color conjurings needed to consume materials to be invoked. Even creating one single-color conjured soldier required many Primary Color crystals. Sahara couldn’t even begin to guess how much material was required for a conjuring on a scale this large. Abbie had made a huge sacrifice in the hopes of bringing down Michele. “Gotcha…” “And also, if big sis is using this conjuring now, that’s my signal.” “Signal?” Ginoum’s tail swelled. The end split into two, opening like an enormous mouth. And the tail-mouth’s target was none other than Sahara. “Bwah?!” “It’s nothing personal.” Sahara’s body was swallowed by Ginoum’s tail and crushed inside, her consciousness quickly fading. “Now that we have this arm, we’re almost there.” A perpetual motion machine of the third kind. This utterly unique Guiding vessel had enormous significance to the conjured soldiers. Having captured Sahara for the future of his kind, Ginoum took off running toward the ceremonial hall. The dense vortex of Concepts of Primary Color vanished at last. “Ugh, finally! That darn thing wouldn’t shut up about bugs…!” “Well, we showed up in this world without being summoned. From its perspective, I suppose we do seem like bugs.” While Maya spat out complaints, Menou responded in an equally exhausted tone. Menou and Maya had even been forced to use their Pure Concepts against their opponent, which could turn their surroundings into micromachines and manipulate them. Maya used her Concepts of Original Sin to surround and cut them off from the rest of the area, and Menou used Weathering to finish them off. “What a total waste of time.” “It wasn’t a waste,” Menou pointed out. “If we follow that thing’s Guiding Force channels, we’ll find the source. Don’t you want to know where the debugging function is based, and who’s powering it?” “Good thinking, Menou!” Maya’s face lit up. There was only one person Menou could be alluding to: the creator of this world, the user of the Pure Concept of Vessel. “Does this mean you figured out where we need to go?” “Of course.” Menou nodded and pointed straight down at the ground. Maya summoned monsters to start digging. Partway through, the bottom fell away. Evidently, all the space beneath a certain point was an empty expanse. “…Well, that’s not built very well. It’s all surface-level, isn’t it?” Maya sounded somewhat disappointed. “I’m sure the settings don’t normally allow people to dig underground,” Menou replied, “so there would be no point building anything down there.” In the world of the monolith, there were clear distinctions between what could and couldn’t be interacted with. Without Maya, they probably wouldn’t have had any way to destroy the ground at all. In the enormous space belowground, there was a single door. It wasn’t attached to a wall—there was simply a door sitting in the middle of nowhere. It could be a trap, but there was nothing else of note. Menou gingerly touched the door. There was no sign of a conditional conjuring. If it was a trap, it would be Menou’s own fault for failing to notice it. She turned the doorknob. On the other side of the door was a small, cramped room. A young woman sat facing an LCD screen, intently clacking away at a keyboard. She didn’t appear to notice that the door had opened. Peering in from behind Menou, Maya gave an excited “aha!” a reaction that confirmed the girl’s identity. “Erm, excuse me… Are you Ran Gadou, by chance?” “…Ueh?” The girl looked at Menou with obvious alarm. Primary Color fragments clinked and clattered off her body, reacting to her emotions. “Ah… Um…mm…maya. Maya…!” She raised her arms as if to protect herself from Menou’s gaze. Then, noticing Maya, she dragged the little girl over and hid behind her like a shield. “Oh, is it because I look like Hakua? Don’t worry. I’m a completely different person.” “…Ah. Um.” Despite Menou’s gentle reassurance, the girl didn’t appear any less nervous. Maya spoke on her behalf. “It’s not that, Menou… Gadou’s just got really intense social anxiety.” Maya turned around and looked Gadou in the eyes. “It’s been a long time, Gadou. I’m so happy you remember me.” “…I’m sorry.” Gadou clutched her head and crouched. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m…” As she went on apologizing repeatedly, Maya sighed. “Come on, I’m not that angry about it. About how you left me behind on the southern islands, I mean.” “I’m really sorry…” The tone of Gadou’s apology changed slightly. Seeing that she had calmed down a little, Menou ventured to speak again. “You are Ran Gadou, aren’t you? The Japanese person who holds the Pure Concept of Vessel?” “Who…? Me…?” Gadou peered out timidly from behind Maya, only showing half her face. So she was willing to talk, at least in theory. Relieved, Menou went on to explain the mission that had brought them. “If you don’t mind, could you tell us the activation key for the otherworld repatriation circle?” “Wait… Did you come here…to talk to the Ran Gadou who has the Pure Concept of Vessel?” Menou looked to Maya for clarification on the strange, somewhat belated response. But Maya was furrowing her brow, too. “What do you mean? You are Gadou, aren’t you?” “Maya… You…didn’t know?” The girl with tousled hair muttered barely above a whisper, not making eye contact with anyone. “Huh? Didn’t know what? You’re Gadou, I’m sure of it. You’re the one who saved me when the Starhusk activated a thousand years ago, remember?” “…I am Gadou, that much is true…but I can’t use the Pure Concept of Vessel.” Menou’s eyes widened, and Maya’s confusion spun out of control. “Wh-what does that even mean? You’re the one who made this monolith, too, aren’t you? If this isn’t the Pure Concept of Vessel, then what the heck is it?!” “…Ran Gadou had dissociative identity disorder… She was a single person with multiple personalities. Three, to be exact…” The mumbled response revealed a shocking truth. Menou was equally surprised by this revelation. If an Otherworlder’s spirit had multiple personalities when they went through the summoning process and a Pure Concept attached to their soul, what would happen? The thought had never even occurred to her.
Chapter 142
44 min read