“It’s time for a raid!”
Regina fired her Drag Howl, blasting through the entranceway shutters. With its caterpillar track howling, the battle vehicle barreled into the tower. Alarms blared and sprinklers went off, dousing the halls in water. All of the research staff had already evacuated the building and gone to the shelters.
“Let’s head to the central control room first.” Riselia stepped down from the battle vehicle and confirmed the map Clauvia had sent her. If they looked over the building’s history, they could perhaps make a guess at where Elfiné was being kept.
But as she tried to do so, she heard the roaring of an engine approaching from down the hall.
“Here they come,” Sakuya said with a smirk, Raikirimaru in hand.
“Regina, get behind me!” Riselia held up the Bloody Sword, and just as she did, a loud rattling filled their ears.
Machine gun fire peppered them without warning. Combat machines operated by mana and loaded with machine guns on every part that could carry them drew on the group. These were Anti-Void unmanned drones—Void Simulators loaded with Phillet Artificial Elementals made for combat.
Riselia deployed blades of blood around herself, using them to deflect and cut down the bullets in midair. Sakuya was already nowhere to be seen—she parkoured around the surrounding pillars and raced across the ceiling, only to land and cut down three combat machines at once. Other machines reacted to her actions and turned their muzzles to fire on her, but—
“Too slow, you buckets of bolts.”
Raikirimaru’s blade flashed—and the combat machines were cut in half. And at the same time—
“Haaa! Bloody Petal Dance!”
Riselia slashed at a machine, deflecting the hail of bullets all the while. Stabbing the tip of her blade into its vital engine parts, she unleashed the Bloody Sword’s power—blades of blood sprouted out of its metallic frame like a flower blooming all at once, crushing the machine from the inside out.
She pulled out her sword and wheeled around, preparing to swing her blade down on the last remaining machine, but—
“…Eh?”
The machine crumbled to the ground on its own, like it had suddenly run out of power.
“—Enemy control, usurped,” a voice spoke up behind her.
Schwertleite was seated upright in the battle vehicle’s driver’s seat.
“…Erm. Did you do that?”
“Affirmative, master.” Schwertleite nodded, and the combat machine got back up on its legs and swerved around.
“…W-wow!” Riselia said, positively impressed.
But come to think of it, she had commanded thousands of magical apparatuses in the ruins, so doing this was probably effortless for her.
“Is there any chance you can seize control of this tower’s core?” Riselia asked.
“It could be possible, if I were to connect to one of the core’s devices…”
“I think we should totally bring her along,” Regina said firmly, to which Schwertleite nodded.
“Hmm, well…” Riselia brought her hand to her jaw in thought, and then looked at Schwertleite. “But what if an Artificial Elemental takes you over, like one did last time?”
“The possibility of an Artificial Elemental controlling my ego should not be a concern.” She shook her head expressionlessly. “My current self is detached from my original self, and I’m in a completely independent state. I’m greatly limited compared to my normal abilities, but in exchange, I cannot be influenced by outside sources.”
“…Really?” Riselia couldn’t quite understand the logic behind it, but apparently there was nothing to fear. “All right, then. We’ll take you along.”
With Regina’s help, Riselia removed Schwertleite from the driver’s seat and used a rope they had stored inside the car to fasten her body to Riselia’s back. She was surprisingly light, and with her Vampire Queen’s strength, Riselia could likely fight even in this condition.
“Erm… Is this comfortable for you?”
“No problems detected, Mama.”
“M-Mama?!”
“I misspoke. I meant master.”
“I’m only fifteen, you know…” Riselia pouted.
“We should hurry, Miss Selia, more of them are coming.” Sakuya strode ahead, Raikirimaru drawn in her hands.
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
“Le…o…niiiiis…!”
As the faced tree emerged from the ground, crushing the soil, it raised its voice in a baneful groan.
…But how?! I know I completely destroyed him! Leonis growled, his eyes wide in disbelief.
Six months ago, the Archsage of the Six Heroes tried to merge with the Seventh Assault Garden’s mana furnace, but Leonis slew him using the Demon Sword Dáinsleif, reducing him to nothing.
…But no. His body’s roots had spread out all over the Seventh Assault Garden’s underground. If Arakael was able to avoid destruction, and someone was there to recover him after he regenerated—
That priest clad in a white garb came to mind—the Dark Lord Azra-Ael’s aide, Nefakess Reizaad. It was him that resurrected the Holy Woman Tearis in the Third Assault Garden, and the one who resurrected the other Undead King in the Ur-Shukar ruins.
So if he resurrected Arakael in some way…
He likely fused him with the Divine Dragon Gisark.
“Leoooo…niiiiiiis…!”
Countless faces appeared in the tree’s barky surface and let out a loud laughter.
“…Phranis!”
Leonis instantly chanted a third-order fire spell to burn away the tree roots. But as soon as they burned into ashes, the tree began instantly regrowing. The Holy Tree’s vitality was still intact.
“How unsightly…,” Leonis whispered in annoyance.
Mixing the power of undeath with the Holy Tree’s life force… Its very existence was an affront to Leonis’s sense of aesthetics.
It seems this other me and I have radically different tastes!
Holding up his staff, Leonis chanted another flame spell, but then he heard chanting from within the burning flames.
Tearing Hallow.
Countless rings of light appeared in thin air and began rushing toward Leonis.
“Zof Meires!” Leonis used a dark element spell to offset the light rings.
He can still use holy magic..!
But even so, Leonis couldn’t sense the intellect the Archsage once had, even after becoming a Void. His cries of hatred and malice toward Leonis only felt like an echo of what he once was. He was but the remains of the Archsage…
…Disgusting. Utterly disgusting.
He chanted explosions spells one by one, blowing away the tree roots. “This time, I’ll completely destroy you, so you can never regenerate again.”
Arakael deployed a holy magic barrier—but, unbothered by it, Leonis continued firing spells that burst against the barrier, shattering it and blowing up the faces that surfaced on the bark in a flurry of flames.
“…This is for showing me something so offensive.”
Stepping over the blown-off roots, Leonis rushed at his original opponent, Gisark.
Le…o…niiiiiiiiiiiis!
Arakael’s soul was blown to pieces, but the remains of his body were still full of residual hatred toward him.
“…?!”
Roots burst through the ground, coiling around Leonis’s legs to hold him in place.
“You impudent…!” Leonis whispered in annoyance.
He cut through the roots with a blade of flame, but then—
■■■■■■…!
Gisark pushed away Veira, who was trying to pin him down, and roared. A flash of heat formed in his open jaw—
Oh no…! Leonis’s eyes widened in alarm. But then—
“My looooord!”
Someone kicked Leonis out of the way.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Beast Lord Explosive Claw!”
The Lord of Beasts’ claws shined with blue fire as he tore through the Holy Tree’s roots. A pained voice rose from the roots as Gazoth Hell Beast stomped over them. The ashes of the Archsage scattered in the wind and blew away.
“It…can’t be…,” The garbed priest stammered, his fair features contorted in alarm. “The Archsage’s cells…!”
“Come on, this was your ace in the hole?” Gazoth regarded him with a savage, toothy sneer. “You think you could size up to a Dark Lord with this faulty toy?”
The wrath the Lord of Beasts was emanating made Nefakess stumble back.
“This ain’t the Archsage. It’s an insult to call this part of the Six Heroes. It’s just an empty shell.”
Gazoth rushed Nefakess in the blink of an eye and grabbed him by the throat.
“But what were you thinking, making a toy like that? What’s your plan, eh…?”
“Ngh, haa..!” Nefakess scrambled under his grip, but the Lord of Beasts’ hand wouldn’t budge.
“Whoa, I almost killed you there, didn’t I? Guess I gotta hold you real gentle, don’t I?”
“It seems I…have…misjudged…the might of the…Dark Lords…”
“Huh?”
“Followers of the goddess, enemies of the world, the tyrannical rulers. You Dark Lords cannot be dominated by…those subjected to the natural order…!”
Held in midair, Nefakess smirked in self-derision.
Crack…
A fissure ran across Nefakess’s body.
“The emptiness…beckons…”
“What?”
Crack, crack, crack…!
Small, narrow cracks extended from the priest’s face, down his neck, and gradually all over his body.
“…You!” Gazoth instantly tightened his grip on his neck…
But Nefakess’s body faded away, swallowed into a tear in space.
“He got away…” Gazoth clicked his tongue and looked about the rooftop.
All over the city, human warriors were fighting countless Void monsters. And at the city center…a single boy was fighting a gigantic zombie dragon.
“Ooh. Looks like something fun’s going on over there…”