The Almagest—the Astrological Observation Device. A treasure of the dragons, capable of recording the movements of all the stars in the celestial sphere. Veira chased down the Devil of the Underworld solely to reclaim this artifact.
“Bringing the whole thing would take up too much space, so I took out its core.”
“I thought it was a treasure for you dragons. Should you be treating it so crudely?”
“I’m the Dark Lord of the Dragons; I can get away with anything,” Veira said, puffing her chest up proudly.
“So? What did you learn from your little toy?” Leonis shrugged.
“—Heh. I’ll show you.”
Veira ran a hand through her crimson hair and whispered something in dragon tongue. This prompted the sphere of light to revolve much faster, projecting a three-dimensional globe into the air.
“This is…”
“The record of the stars stored within the Almagest.”
Numbers appeared on the surface of the projection: Holy Calendar, 447. Veira twirled a fingertip, which made the planet sphere in the center of the projection to zoom in. Leonis was impressed. Veira looked proud of herself, but in truth, this wasn’t dragonkin technology. The Azure Fort was, much like the Deus Machina, produced by the magical technology of an ancient, ruined civilization.
“This is our world. One thousand years ago, the Dark Lords led by the Goddess of Rebellion were defeated, and mankind emerged victorious with the help of the Six Heroes blessed by the Luminous Powers—”
Windows opened around the planet, showing off different images.
“But mankind then lost sight of the Six Heroes as well, and the age of legends came to a close.”
The numbers of the Holy Calendar progressed, and the footage shown in the windows rapidly changed. After the conclusion of the Dark Lord War, mankind flourished in a momentary time of peace, after which different nations once again began fighting among themselves.
As their civilizations advanced, they exchanged swords and spears for stronger weapons, eventually developing forms of magical technology capable of killing tens of thousands at once. The fires of war spread rapidly, with cross-national wars spreading all over the world. And then—
The counter stopped at the year 714 of the Holy Calendar, and all the footage vanished.
“…Mm?” Leonis turned his eyes to the revolving globe. A black stain suddenly appeared and began spreading from the center of the north pole and all over the planet. Before long, it covered the entire continent.
“Veira, what is this?” Leonis asked, but she simply whispered to him to keep watching.
The black stain continued spreading, swallowing up continents and even the sea, to the point it nearly overtook the entire planet. And then, just as the world was nearly fully consumed, a small dot of light appeared on the surface of the blackened planet.
“…?”
The point of light spread out at once, pushing back the black stain. Half of the blackened planet was now covered in white light. But then, the three-dimensional model of the planet started crackling…
And the biggest change yet happened.
The star model, still revolving slowly, separated into two.
“…The planet split?”
“That’s right. At that point, the world we knew was divided in two.” Veira nodded, her eyes fixed on the two star models floating above them.
“So was that black stain Void miasma…?”
“That’s probably what it was.” Veira shrugged.
“This happened about seven hundred years ago. Of course, the planet wasn’t physically split in two. But the two halves’ dimensional phases separated, making them overlap over spacetime to, uh…”
“Create another world that stands for another divergent possibility,” Rivaiz said, finishing her sentence.
“Y-yeah, what she said!” Veira said and cleared her throat. “So when the worlds were separated, most life-forms like demons and monsters were swallowed up by the Void World. And they ended up becoming those disgusting creatures, the Voids.”
Seven hundred years ago…
Leonis recalled something Riselia once told him in the Seventh Assault Garden’s museum. At some point, the ancient world’s monsters all vanished without warning.
—The Great Divide.
Its cause is yet to be determined, and it is speculated it might have been a giant meteor hitting the planet, some kind of plague curse, or otherwise the planet’s mana going out of control.
And when the Emperor’s younger brother, Alexios, told Leonis of the Imperial history, he mentioned some kind of massive cataclysm seven hundred years ago that made it impossible to trace history back to before that period—a cataclysm that wiped all record of the era of Gods, heroes, and Dark Lords at once.
And that was this black stain that appeared in the world’s pole, two hundred years after mankind reestablished civilization. If that was the singularity that formed the Voids…then what was that light that appeared suddenly at the center of the continent, pushing back the emptiness’s encroachment?
Did that light save the planet from being consumed by the Void miasma?
The Almagest only showed records of the planet. So while they knew what happened seven hundred years ago, it didn’t show how or why it happened.
Veira operated the Almagest to display the position of the celestial bodies.
“So with that happening, it only makes sense the stars’ position would shift.”
And indeed, the stars’ positions were different compared to one thousand years ago. Back in Leonis’s period, there was an art of astrology that tried to decipher the positions of the stars and their meaning, but now, all its research was of no use.
“Mm, wait…?”
Leonis realized something. No matter where he looked along the star map, he couldn’t find that star.
“Veira, where’s the Star of Calamity?”
The Star of Calamity—a red star that shined bright in the sky, one that didn’t exist a thousand years ago. It was believed to be related to Void activity and the outbreak of Stampedes, and Regina was disinherited from her position as princess for being born under that star.
“What are you talking about? It’s over there.” Veira pointed at the star map’s center.
“What?”
“What the humans call the ‘Star of Calamity’ is the other world that split off from this one seven hundred years ago. Whenever the Void World overlaps with this one, it becomes visible, like a shadow.”
“…I see.”
This world and the Void World weren’t separated by physical space, but via their spacetime positions. So a situation where they overlapped could occur.
…I imagine the Devil of the Underworld would be more knowledgeable about this.
But in that case, it would mean that the other Undead King sealed in the Rognas kingdom ruins was to Leonis what the Star of Calamity was to this world.
“—That’s all we know,” Veira said, and snapped her fingers. The star map vanished into thin air. “The events of seven hundred years ago. Was it worth reclaiming the Almagest for this?”
“Yes. Thank you for sharing this insightful information.” Leonis nodded sincerely.
Just finding out what happened to the world after the Dark Lords were destroyed was worthwhile information.
“Well, if that’s settled, I’ll be going.” Veira nodded, satisfied, and rose from her seat.
“You’re going after Azra-Ael?”
“Well, I’d like to, but…” Veira turned around and shrugged. “For now, I think I’ll take my time and relax in this city.”
“Wh-what?!” Leonis asked, his expression tensing up.
“I don’t like to admit it, but the injuries from my battle with the Divine Dragon will take some time to heal,” Veira said, revolving her shoulder, and then looked over at Rivaiz. “But hanging out alone would be boring, so do you want to come with me, Lord of the Seas?”
“Hm. I will admit I’m a bit curious about this era’s magic technology.”
“Wait, don’t just do as you please in my Kingdom!”
“If it’s your Kingdom, Leo, then it’s mine to do with as I please.”
“What kind of logic is that?!”
“Dragon logic,” Veira replied nonchalantly and left the Corpse Chamber.
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure she doesn’t cause too much havoc,” Rivaiz said.
“Guh!” Leonis made to get up, but gave up and sank back into his chair. There was no point in trying to stop the tyrannical Dragon Lord.
“Shary, keep an eye on Veira and Rivaiz,” Leonis ordered.
“Eeeh?!” Shary squealed. “I—I can’t stop those two!”
“I know that. Just keep watch over them.”
“A-all right…” Shary nodded reluctantly and sank into the shadows.
“…My word.” Leonis sighed and looked up to the ceiling. But then—
“All right, Leonis, it’s about time we talked, you and I,” said the Lord of Beasts, having finished eating the rock boar.
“…Yes, you’re right,” Leonis said, and finished the juice in his goblet.
“I’ll overlook you poaching minions from the Grand Beast Army. You didn’t know I had resurrected, after all. But things are different now.”
The Lord of Beasts opened his one eye wide, and the air in the room trembled.
“I want all the beastmen under your command.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Leonis said quietly.
“…Mm?”
“I’m still the Undead King. I can’t just hand over my subordinates. My dignity won’t allow it.”
“Heh, so that’s your answer then, Undead King?” Gazoth let out a pleased growl. “Then let’s follow the old traditions and resolve this in a duel between two Dark Lords.”
“A duel. I could take you up on that offer, but are you sure you want to go that way?”
“What?”
“It’ll end up tarnishing your name, Lord of Beasts.” Leonis shrugged in self-derision. “As you can see, my body is that of a frail child right now. My mana is a third of my original capacity, and even Shary has me beat in terms of pure physical ability.”
“…Nngh.”
“Moreover, my other self stole my favored staff. You could beat me now, when I can’t use my true power, but it would besmirch your reputation.”
“…Grr. That’s not…,” the Lord of Beasts growled, his expression bitter.
Out of everyone in the Dark Lords’ Armies, Gazoth Hell Beast was the purest warrior—so much so that he challenged the Swordmaster of the Six Heroes to single combat while knowing he couldn’t possibly win. Fighting a weakened, unprepared opponent was beneath him, and an affront to his dignity.
…Albeit, I think I can beat him even in my current state.
“So what are you suggesting? You’re not going to ask me to wait until you regain your full power, are you?”
“No, there’s no need to wait that long,” Leonis shook his head and got to his feet. “Let’s go somewhere else. I’ll prepare a proper place for a duel between Dark Lords.”