“That’s a good point,” Yggdra replied. “Right now, Father’s soul is locked away with the cycle of reincarnation that revolves around this world. The seal has been passed down and inherited by elves for generations, and now it resides within this body, etched onto Lyrule’s soul. By killing her, they can break the seal, and Father will be reborn. I’m certain that’s their goal. Now, as far as what form the reincarnation will take, it appears that the grandmasters intend to use Emperor Lindworm von Freyjagard as Father’s vessel.” “Wait, the emperor’s body?” Akatsuki asked. “That’s right. Father’s magic—his raw life energy—is so powerful that putting his soul into an average body would be like cramming an ocean in a wineglass. It wouldn’t take long at all for it to break. That is why the grandmasters haven’t been able to make their move for the past thousand years. “Sometimes, though, the world produces a prodigy whose abilities outstrip their era, just as my old world produced Father. And Lindworm von Freyjagard is one such exception. His magic transcends even the elves’. Between that and his mighty body, he’s the only person who could possibly serve as a vessel for Father.” “But…what’ll happen to the emperor if they pull it off?” Yggdra’s expression darkened at Akatsuki’s inquiry. “Two souls can’t coexist in a single body for any prolonged period. When Father is revived, the emperor’s persona will quickly be overwritten and cease to exist.” “Really? They’d do that to their own emperor?” “Have the grandmasters no loyalty as retainers?” Aoi asked. “They…believe themselves to be superior to the people of this world.” Yggdra surmised that her kin probably thought of this world’s people as little more than lab rats. Tsukasa posed a question. “I know that Emperor Lindworm’s been using the Four Grandmasters—this ‘Father’ character’s minions—since before he took the throne, and it was supposedly their counsel that led him to invade Yamato, but… Based on his behavior, it would appear that he doesn’t know they intend to use him as a vessel.” “No. Or at least, probably not. If he did, I doubt he’d go along with their plan to invade Yamato or depart for the New World.” Tsukasa nodded. “In that case, telling Emperor Lindworm the truth is one option we could explore.” Keine voiced her agreement. “Broadly speaking, there are three options we can select from. We can make sure Lyrule stays safe, defeat Neuro and the other grandmasters, or render the vessel unusable. Any one should suffice.” “B-but…!” Then, unexpectedly, Ringo offered her doubts. “When the grandmasters…fought Yggdra…all those years ago…they destroyed…the whole continent…right? Will we really…be able…to beat them?” According to the legend of the Seven Heroes, the villains reduced the entire continent to a wasteland. Ringo’s fears were entirely reasonable. However… “I wouldn’t fret about that.” …Yggdra wasn’t worried. “Now that they’ve reincarnated, the grandmasters are nothing more than normal humans. Their original forms evolved to supernatural levels like my corpse here, but those bodies have been lost.” The grandmasters had knowledge yet lacked sufficiently powerful forms to take full advantage of it. “The magic they know is beyond anything this world has discovered, so they’re certainly a force to be reckoned with, but it’s nothing your scientific and military capabilities won’t be able to overcome.” “R-really?! Oh, that’s such a huge rel—” “But…” “There’s a but?!” Before Akatsuki could get too comfortable, Yggdra cut him off, wearing a serious look. “There’s one thing you need to watch out for: the Philosopher’s Stones.” “The…Philosopher’s Stones, you say?” “Tsu…kasa…is she talking…about…?” Keine and Ringo looked questioningly at Tsukasa, who nodded. “I suspect so.” Yggdra’s descriptor was a bit melodramatic, but Ringo and Keine both had a pretty good idea of what objects she referred to. “Are you alluding to the black crystals we found embedded in Elm’s Lord of the Woods, Gustav, and the Yamato wolf Shiro?” Tsukasa asked. Keine and Ringo had extracted a sample of the strange mineral from Gustav’s chest, and when they used it on a rat, the crystal forced its body tissue to mutate. Whatever that stuff was, it didn’t exist back on Earth. Yggdra bobbed her head in the affirmative. “I am. Philosopher’s Stones are coagulated bits of blood and flesh that fell from Father during our war a thousand years ago. To exact revenge on our home world, we intended to use this planet as a place to evolve into more powerful organisms. We modified cells, transplanted genes from other capable entities… That is how I obtained the body you see back there.” She gestured at the mummified dragon behind her. “Once our bodies transformed, they became incredibly powerful down to the cellular level. We learned to induce that evolution in other beings by injecting them with our blood or transplanting our tissue. The process is capable of giving them incredible magical and physical abilities. It can even restore dead soil to its former glory.” “So you’re saying that if Neuro took that flesh and strengthened himself with it like he did Gustav…” “Exactly. That would be a dangerous situation indeed. However, using Father’s cells to force evolution places a tremendous burden on the subject. Without an iron will or a hardy body like an elf’s, the subject will succumb to the strain and crumble. And now that the grandmasters are mere humans, the cells would affect them as they would anyone else. I doubt they’d willingly take that risk.” Tsukasa was reminded of the results when they applied the stone to the rat. The animal entered a state of heightened excitement, then died from elevated blood pressure, practically rupturing from the inside. It was hard to imagine anyone willingly accepting something like that into their body unless they truly had no other choice. “So however we decide to thwart the grandmasters, we have to ensure it doesn’t involve backing them into a corner. That isn’t going to be easy.” With that being the case, doing something about Emperor Lindworm was starting to seem like the most enticing play available. However, there was another issue that needed to be dealt with first. “No matter what steps we take against the grandmasters, our primary course of action will always be the same.” “You mean…” “You’re talking about Massy, right?” Shinobu asked. Tsukasa nodded. “That’s right. Merchant chose to join Neuro, and we need to tell him what the grandmasters are plotting. Once he learns that Neuro’s scheme involves killing Lyrule, he’ll never stand for it.” There was no reason to stay on Neuro’s good side anymore. Tsukasa pulled out his smartphone. Before things got underway, he needed to figure out how to link up with Masato. Unfortunately… “His phone’s off.” “Did it run out of battery?” Akatsuki asked. “He brought a charger with him, so I doubt it,” Tsukasa said. “He might be sleeping or in the middle of something. Or…he might not be interested in keeping in contact.” “B-but why not?!” “It’s not surprising. The whole reason Merchant split from us was to maintain a strong relationship with Neuro. He won’t chat us up while working into Neuro’s good graces. Doing so would jeopardize what he’s after, and I can’t blame him for playing it safe. I’ll send him a text and see how he—” Just as Tsukasa was explaining things to Akatsuki and booting up his messaging app, he was interrupted. “SCREEEEEE!!!!” A shrill cry shook the sky above. “Wh-what’s with the cawing?!” Everyone looked up in surprise, spotting a bird swooping toward them through a small gap in the overhead foliage. “Is that…an eagle?” When Shura spotted the animal—a white-shouldered eagle—she let out a shocked cry. “Foremost?!” “A friend of yours?” Keine asked. “We use eagles to pass messages while undercover. Foremost is the swiftest of all and only to be used in emergencies!” Shura extended her arm, and the bird perched atop it, wrapping its thick talons firmly around her slender arm. There was a letter tied to one of its legs. Shura unrolled it, scanned the contents… “!!!!” …and gasped. The message had come straight from Kaguya… “The Freyjagard Army is massing troops on Yamato’s border…one hundred and fifty thousand of them!” …and described the empire’s retaliation against Yamato. Akatsuki’s eyes bugged out at Shura’s news. “A—a—a hundred and fifty thousand?! Isn’t that, like, way more than they’ve sent at us before?!” Shinobu gave Tsukasa a look. “Tsukes, a hundred and fifty thousand sounds a whole lot like—” “I’m aware. I don’t know how many died during the insurrection, but in all likelihood… With Freyjagard’s big campaign going on, the odds are good that’s every soldier the empire can muster.” Freyjagard had likely even rounded up soldiers who typically spent their time defending border checkpoints and guarding villages. Now that the empire had rooted out all internal dissidents, it could afford to pull audacious stunts like this. “There are already around thirty thousand troops standing in battle formation at our old imperial border. They say that they’re being dispatched to put down the rebel movement that threatens the self-governing dominion’s rights and the empire’s interests…” Shura hesitated for a moment. “Apparently, Grandmaster Neuro ul Levias also claims…that you all are the ‘ringleaders’ and that if we turn you over, Freyjagard will consider the issue resolved and recognize Yamato’s sovereignty.” Tsukasa sighed heavily. “Then my bad hunch was on the mark.” This was why he’d told Yggdra they didn’t have much time. “Neuro’s figured out we made contact with Yggdra.” During the meeting with the Yamato dominion leadership, Jade had explained that Neuro ordered him not to rock the boat. Back then, Neuro had hoped he could get by without letting the Prodigies discover anything in Yamato he didn’t want them to. That was why the dominion government had been so oddly cooperative initially. However, Neuro wasn’t going to get what he wanted. Now that he suspected the Prodigies knew his objective—killing Lyrule—he pulled out all the stops and went on the attack. “Reclaiming the dominion is merely a pretext that allowed him to mobilize that army. Neuro’s true goal is to stick us with the blame for the dominion government’s downfall so he can get rid of us,” Tsukasa said. “Don’t worry,” Shura replied. “Yamato won’t sell you out.” “I appreciate that.” Shura was right; Kaguya wasn’t going to hand them over. Tsukasa didn’t hope that she wouldn’t. Rather, he knew she had to refuse. It was obvious after some consideration. The bitter taste of imperial rule still lingered on every tongue in Yamato. None of Kaguya’s subjects would believe any honeyed words from Freyjagard. If anything, Kaguya would likely side with the Prodigies and fight the empire. Yamato was always going to cross blades with Freyjagard if it genuinely wished to maintain independence. It was best to do so while they had a powerful ally in the Prodigies. There was little chance of Yamato turning against Tsukasa and the others for the moment. And that being the case, they were in little danger. It was Masato, who was right by Neuro’s side, whose well-being was in jeopardy. There was no telling when or how Neuro might use him as a hostage, so the other Prodigies needed to reunite with him quickly. Unfortunately, Neuro was now entirely hostile, so any attempt to contact Masato could put him in danger. Phone calls were out of the question for the time being, and messaging could be perilous, depending on the situation. That left only one option. “Shinobu.” Tsukasa turned his attention to the master ninja journalist. That was all she needed to understand. She nodded. “Yup, I read you. You want me to sneak into the empire, then bring Massy and Roo out with me, yeah?” “Can you do it?” “I’m gonna be real with you. I can’t offer you my usual guarantees. The bad guys know exactly how badly we want Massy out of there, and there’s a good chance they’ll have him under heavy guard.” “Then I shall accompany you,” Aoi declared. “Conflict such as this is my specialty, that it is.” However, Shinobu shot her down. “Nah, that’s not an option.” “Why not, may I ask?” “They’ve marshaled a huge force, which means they’re planning on more than making a threat. The grandmaster is acting under the assumption that we know what he’s after. He’s not gonna wait long. If Yamato doesn’t immediately give us up, he’ll come charging across the border. When that happens, we’ll need you here in Yamato. There’s no way for you to protect everyone, but if I go alone, then at least the five of you will be safe, even if things go south on my side. That’s why you want me to do this solo, right, Tsukes?” Shinobu looked over at Tsukasa, hoping he would back her up. “You’re correct about why Aoi needs to stay behind, but not about why I chose you for the job.” “Oh yeah?” “I picked you because I’m confident that Shinobu Sarutobi, prodigy journalist, can overcome this challenge without help. In fact, I’m certain that you’re the only person in the world capable of the feat.” Tsukasa wasn’t trying to feed Shinobu’s ego. He was speaking from the heart. No matter how impossible a task seemed, Tsukasa never doubted that she and the other Prodigies would succeed. Never. Tsukasa knew that he was an ordinary man who had no choice but to plan for every eventuality, and he couldn’t place that sort of wholehearted faith in himself. But he could put it in them. Each of them possessed an incredible talent that exceeded the bounds of traditional sense. Knowing that she had Tsukasa’s complete trust… “Heh-heh. I guess you do know me pretty well, then! There’s not a place in the world that I can’t infiltrate. You can sit back and leave it to your unstoppable girl!” …Shinobu threw out her ample chest with pride. It wasn’t empty bravado. “I had a feeling things might come to this… Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but still, I laid some groundwork back when I was in the empire as a fake exchange student. Don’t you worry. I’ll get Massy and Roo out. So promise me this…” Shinobu’s eyes moved to each person assembled in the glade, her expression serious. “When I bring ’em back, I want all of you there for the welcoming party.” She demanded they all survive. There was really only one response. “Of course.” With that, the Prodigies set their sights on their new endgame. Most of them would remain in Yamato to confront the massive imperial army, while Shinobu snuck into the enemy stronghold alone to find Masato. Each had their mission, and they were the best people for the jobs.
Chapter 115
13 min read