Chapter 224

“Spica is so foolish. She thinks everything will be all right if she gets the help of her friend from six hundred years ago.” A voice echoed in the darkness. It was childish and cruel, yet oddly gentle. The whisper of a destroyer, born to kill everything. “Yeah,” Star Citadel member Nefty Strawberry replied halfheartedly, squeezing her bunny plushie. “What a shame. I was going to kill her.” “Revenge for taking you out of office? That’s not a good idea.” “Yes, it is! I studied so hard…and then she…” “You have to learn to move on, or your heart will grow inadequate. That’s why your room is so full of trash.” “N-no, it’s not. I like it clean…” “There were pizza crumbs all over your office.” “You sure are perceptive for someone without eyes, Yusei…” “Because I like things clean. This world is so dirty that it’s better off destroyed. Don’t forget this is Star Citadel’s goal.” Nefty looked at the coffin next to her. Inside it slept a girl with beautiful hair, the color of the setting sun. This was Star Citadel’s leader—Yusei. In the distant past, she had fought a vampire known as Insaint. She managed to narrowly escape death, but many of her bodily functions were destroyed, and she became bedridden. That aside. After losing the battle in the Netherworld, the surviving members of Star Citadel had decided to rest in their secret hideout. However, they hadn’t given up on their ambitions of destroying everyone in their way. The tower was the trigger. The keystone for laying waste to everything. “God Slayer Tower is like a ladder connecting six rooms. Forcing it open will only bring trouble. The beasts hate the outside air…” “Hey, but you sent them right where the tower is.” “Yes. They like to play outside from time to time.” The bunny plush giggled. Nefty shuddered. Yusei was a real murderer. Not a poser like Spica. Not even Terakomari’s heart could change her. Even though Yusei was Nefty’s trusty partner, the girl was hard to understand sometimes. Nefty sighed; she was still just a rookie. “This is ridiculous. She is Observatory’s archenemy…” The Holy Lehysian Empire’s central square. Luxmio sighed at the sight of the pile of soldiers. The buildings were destroyed, and the world heritage site square was devastated. Yet there was not a single death; his battered soldiers were merely knocked out. Terakomari Gandesblood had done this. Luxmio had managed to slip away from Kakumei Amatsu in the chaos of the battle, but the situation was not in his favor. Terakomari had ravaged the square with her crimson mana, giving herself an opportunity to head to the God Slayer Tower. They should not be able to reunite with Naturia Lumiere, but they had apparently gathered all six Dark Cores. If they made an insolent wish to establish a new order, the Foreworld’s prosperity would disappear. “We meet again. I caught you.” “!” A Sapphire man stepped out in front of him. It was Spica La Gemini’s underling, Tryphon Cross. The man’s eyes glowed crimson, and the next moment, needles plunged into the ground near Luxmio’s feet. This Sapphire was also a dangerous person, but not nearly as threatening as Terakomari and Spica. Luxmio had no time to lose entertaining him. He dodged the consecutive needle barrage and activated Bondage’s second implosion. “Wha…?! He’s gone?!” Tryphon’s eyes widened. Luxmio’s belts had wrapped around his body, then vanished into the background. The belts had changed colors, camouflaging Luxmio so perfectly, it appeared to Tryphon as though the man had disappeared. Extermination Armor had three phases. The first implosion enabled it to be used as a regular weapon. The second implosion was a step forward. And the final implosion was its secret power. Bondage’s second implosion had the power of camouflage. Luxmio had used this ability to approach the destroyers while they were camping. Yet Terakomari had managed to spot him thanks to her Insaint blood. “I must eliminate them.” “Tsk… Wait!” Tryphon shot needles on pure instinct, but none of them hit Luxmio. Luxmio spread eight belts and used them as legs to propel himself away. From a bird’s eye view, he resembled a giant spider moving at high speed. There was no time to waste—he had to stop the destroyers of order. Luxmio ran toward the God Slayer Tower. For it was his job as a Fool. “Oop… Gweeeh!” The moment we reached the God Slayer Tower by Mizuchi, Spica got on the ground and puked her guts out. Lingzi and I screamed in unison. “S-Spica?! Did you get dizzy?!” “No… I need the Dark Cores to enter the tower… I’m trying to get them out.” “Get them…out…?” “Yeah… Gweeeh!” “Waaaah?! Vill, do you have motion sickness pills on hand?!” “I have pills that will make you vomit to death… Oh?” Plop. Plop. Two somethings dropped from Spica’s mouth—two spheres that shone like stars, drenched in gastric juices. These were the items we needed to unseal the tower. “Haaah, haaah… Finally! Whoo, that feels nice!” “You ate the Dark Cores?! Do they taste good?” “They couldn’t be more disgusting! I was hiding them from the Fool! I would’ve taken them out while we were locked up if they hadn’t been stuck in my stomach!” “How indecent. That certainly isn’t an idea an upstanding vampire such as Lady Komari or myself could come up with. Right, Lady Komari?” “…” There was so much to take issue with about Vill’s statement that I shut my mouth. We held a strategy meeting in front of the tower. City ruins spread around us. I felt like I’d seen this before, and then I remembered: it was the city I saw in the netherscreening at Frezier. There could’ve been hot springs on the opposite side of where I was standing. I hoped that, once all of this was over, I could relax at the hot springs with everyone here: Vill, Sakuna, Nelia, Karla, Koharu, Esther, Lingzi, Meihua, Prohellya, Leona, and Spica. “…That’s a huge tower, huh?” “About a trillion times your height, isn’t it, Lady Komari?” “C’mon, it can’t be more than a thousand.” I looked up at the white tower. I couldn’t see the top from where I was. It had no windows and no entrance. It was just like a giant pillar. But I stood there in anxious awe. I felt like I could hear a voice coming from inside the thing. It was like the roaring of the wind. “Question.” Nelia looked at Spica with suspicion. “The Miko’s been asleep for six hundred years, right? How could she understand what’s happening in the Netherworld right now?” “Don’t worry! Naturia has a Core Implosion—Paradox Oracle! If we give her the blood of a single person to ingest, she can show us the best future.” “Wait, all the blood in their body…?” “You mean she needs a sacrifice?” Vill asked. “Yes,” Spica said like it was nothing. “And the stronger the willpower of the person whose blood she drinks, the stronger the prediction. That’s why I saved Terakomari in Lumiere Village.” “?!” Nelia, Sakuna, and Vill glared daggers at Spica. Oh, that makes sense! She didn’t save me because I had the power to help her out, but because she wanted to use me as a sacrifice… “WAIT WHAT?!?!” “Yeah, but I’ve changed my mind! I don’t wanna kill you anymore. I mean…” She paused. “I mean, I wouldn’t be able to face Naturia if I did. You helped me more than I could’ve expected. Maybe you’re a shut-in worthy of paradise.” Spica was being sincere for once. Vill and Nelia noticed her lack of animosity and took a step back with a sigh. Sakuna clung to me. “You mustn’t let your guard down.” I was glad she was worried about me, but she was making it real hard to breathe. “No fair, Lady Memoir.” Vill clung to me, too. I wasn’t so happy this time because I knew Vill only wanted to feel me up. “Excuse me,” Lingzi said timidly. “In that case, how are we going to activate Paradox Oracle? Doesn’t Ms. Naturia need blood…?” “We’ll think about that later! Let’s just get this tower unsealed!” I had a bad feeling about this. The voice was even louder than usual for some reason. Could it be that she…? I couldn’t finish my thought before Spica raised the six Dark Cores and began praying. The Dark Cores had the power to realize and maintain the wish of their holder. One had to imbue another wish in order to free them from their role. The six stars spun in the air. Vast mana spread. “Fwaah!” Sakuna exclaimed. Her staff emitted faint light, and ice crackled at its tip. “I can… I can use magic!” “The Dark Cores’ reserves must’ve scattered temporarily. Now we can fight to our hearts’ content.” Prohellya stroked her gun with satisfaction. I hope we don’t need to fight to our hearts’ content…, I thought while staring at the spinning Dark Cores. Finally, the light scattered, and a crack appeared in the smooth wall of the tower. The wall sank in to create an entrance. The six-hundred-year seal was about to be released. “Naturia!” Spica screamed with hope.