…I swear. Not a single moment to rest.
It was midnight. He whispered this to himself as he sat in the chair in his office in Palace Illuminous. The Emperor’s younger brother, Alexios Ray O’ltriese. His fair features were marred with traces of fatigue after several days of hard work.
A massive Void invasion, enacted by multiple Void Lords.
Despite not having been graced with a powerful Holy Sword, his data analysis abilities were highly regarded and he was forced to take command regardless of his will. The Stampede was halted with the Void Lords’ destruction, but the damages the capital endured were great, and even now, he was swamped with work dealing with the aftermath.
Alexios slumped into his chair tiredly…only for his eyes to settle on an ominous-looking statue. A small statuette of a Dark Lord, fashioned from bones. A few of his subordinates were taken aback by the distasteful decoration in his office, but he kept it there anyway, mostly out of fear that terrifying maid might kill him if he threw it away.
…It was probably him that stopped the Stampede, he thought bitterly, holding on to the statue.
The footage of the combat that took place in the Central Garden included a gigantic Void Lord fighting a massive dragon. And in the sea, there were strange reports of a sea monster Void Lord suddenly being swallowed up by a vortex. The crew of the Hyperion reported seeing an otherworldly beautiful, fairy-like girl on the deck of the ship at the same time.
And one of the witnesses was his own niece, Princess Altiria.
Upon hearing the report, he came to a conclusion right away: The Dark Lord Zol Vadis was the one who did this.
…I am thankful mankind was saved, of course.
But still, Alexios’s stomach churned with concern. If the Dark Lord kept running wild like that, even Alexios, with his skilled intelligence organization, couldn’t hide his existence for long. If the Dark Lord was exposed to the world, and the people learned he sided with such a force, even if it was mankind’s sake, it would be the end of his career and station.
Duke Edward, are you sure your plan will save mankind…? He resentfully complained to his friend, who came up with the Dark Lord Project.
But sadly, that friend passed away six years ago.
But then the communication terminal on his desk rang out loudly. It was an emergency military line.
“…What’s wrong?” Alexios picked up, once again taking up the appearance of a commander.
“Your Highness, we just got an emergency signal from the Fourth Assault Garden, asking for aid!”
“The Fourth Assault Garden…?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Hm. It seems it’s still too soon for a complete assimilation.”
The voice of the young priest, clad in the Human Church’s garb, echoed through the silent space. It was Duke Phillet’s main estate in the Fourth Assault Garden. Seated on a chair at the end of the room was a black-haired girl, her eyes blank.
Like the Queen of Demon Swords, seated on the throne of emptiness.
She was a Phillet Company homunculus, who had a Trapezohedron—a fragment of the Goddess—implanted within her.
“Deinfraude finally delivered on his word. A fake though you may be, you still function as a sufficient vessel for the Goddess.”
The priest brushed a hand through the girl’s sleek black hair, but she didn’t respond in any way.
“I feel a sense of affinity for you, you know. Or perhaps aversion, since you’re so similar to me.” Nefakess carried on, not minding her silence. “You see, just like you, I was born an artificial human meant to serve as a vessel. My former master—a great magus known as one of the Six Heroes—sought eternal life. So he made many containers like me, for him to store his soul…”
His voice didn’t reach the blank-eyed girl. He knew that. He was merely speaking to himself, never intending for anyone to hear him.
But then—
“You’re quite talkative when it comes to dolls, Lord Nefakess…”
An old man clad in a military uniform appeared silently. The governor of the Fourth Assault Garden, Count Deinfraude Phillet. A traitor to mankind and main backer and leader of the D-Project. He already cast aside his humanity, evolving into an apostle of the Goddess and the Void.
“The furnace is prepared.”
“Yes, all that remains is to feed it the necessary sacrifice.”
The name of that furnace was the Fourth Assault Garden—Brocéliande. With a furnace fed with Demon Swords, it would burn down the final stronghold of mankind—pushing the Demon Sword Project to its final stage, the Void Shift that will fuse the two worlds together, to completion.
And in that crucible, his daughter will use the power of the gathered Demon Swords to transform into the Goddess.
“With this, my wish will finally be granted… At long last…”
“Yes. Very soon, Count Deinfraude.” Nefakess smiled, looking up at something far away. “When the stars fall from the heavens, one who is human but harbors the soul of the Goddess shall appear…”
He chanted the Goddess’s prophecy like gospel.
✦ ✦ ✦
—Imperial standard time, 23:05.
It began in the Fourth Assault Garden’s Holy Sword training school, the Academia. A group of Holy Swordsmen who had awakened to Demon Swords occupied and took over the Academia. And, using Seraphim’s power, they forcibly turned the students’ Holy Swords into Demon Swords. They warped the defenders of mankind, the Holy Swordsmen, into Voids and unleashed them upon the city.
The Fourth Assault Garden’s central control bureau instantly issued an aide request to the nearby Fifth Assault Garden and Capital, and began evacuating the civilians.
—Imperial standard time, 01:05.
The mana furnace and 68 percent of the Artificial Elementals used to run the city were seized, and strongholds that resisted the Voids’ attacks fell. The mana furnace was momentarily shut off, and then restarted. The city changed course toward a reef area of the ocean.
Attempts were made to track the Fourth Assault Garden, but the Void Reefs hampered communications, and its signal was lost.
Eight hours later, the Fourth Assault Garden emerged…having transformed into a Void Hive.