✦ ✦ ✦
“If he’s just fast and nothing else...”
Akuto pointed his hand at the emergency exit. He tried to use his mana to trap the insect man. But...
“Huh...?”
Akuto wasn’t sure what had happened. He couldn’t properly control his mana.
“What’s going on...?” he said, confused, just as Nonimora started to run. She was fast, but the insect man was faster and smaller. He slipped out of her hands and vanished out a ventilation window. Nonimora threw a tantrum on the landing of the emergency stairs.
“You let him get away!”
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t use my mana right...”
Akuto said as he came out onto the landing with her.
“It’s probably because the energy in this land is so weak. You can’t use as much mana here as you can in the Empire. You hadn’t realized how to deal with the difference yet,” Korone said.
“Hey, he took it. What do we do?” Keena asked.
The Elder had an answer.
“It’s okay... Or maybe, it’s not okay. But it’s not an issue for the moment. Anyone can use the Jeweled Branch, but only the Imperial Family can make the Faceless Power answer.”
“Then at least we can avoid the worst-case scenario... No, I don’t know what C-MID8 is planning, so we can’t be sure...” Akuto said, but then an incoming telepathic call was sent to Keena, interrupting his train of thought. Keena gasped when she saw the incoming call on her terminal.
“I had so much fun with the villagers I forgot to call home... It’s from the old man.”
Keena answered the call, and immediately heard a scream.
“Your Majesty! You’re safe! I’m so glad!”
It was Joji Yuki, with the royal guard.
“You’re being pretty loud. Listen, our ship suddenly crashed...” Keena tried to explain, but he cut her off with a voice that sounded like it was in tears.
“That’s not important now... Well, it IS important now... but also, the republic...!” Joji began to explain what happened.
When Akuto heard this, he began to wonder if he’d been wrong about the worst-case scenario.
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○
When he arrived over the Marlay village, Hiroshi saw a warning on his visor and informed Marine of the situation.
“Sorry, we’ve got trouble.”
“What happened?’
“The area’s covered in a field. It’s the suit’s weak point. It would take a long time to explain, but the enemy is trying to drain me of my energy.”
“It seems there’s mana here, so I can fly too. But thank you for carrying me this far. I couldn’t have done it alone,” Marine said as he stepped away. Then he asked Hiroshi.
“So does this mean the enemy is nearby?”
“Correct. Somebody who works with the man you called the devil.” Marine’s expression changed when he heard this.
“Then they’re my enemy too. If you can’t fight, I will.”
“That’s a big help... Ahead of us. 15 degrees up, in the sky.”
Hiroshi used his visor to detect where the energy was present, and passed that information on to Marine. Marine must have seen it himself, because he nodded. There was an airship floating there. It was the about the same size as the royal airship, the largest ship an individual could pilot on their own. But it was clear from its exterior that it wasn’t the kind you could buy on the market. It was painted pitch black to hide its affiliation, and was bristling with weapons.
“C-MID8. That’s the name of their organization,” Hiroshi said bitterly.
“The mana is thin, and there’s not much energy. I’m not sure I can do this. I may be forced to withdraw.”
There was a bitterness in his eyes as he spoke, but his words were calm. He was an adult, Hiroshi realized.
“If you can shut down the VPS field generator, I can use my full power. And if that happens, we’re unbeatable.”
Marine nodded at his words.
“Understood.”
“I’ll do what I can with the energy I have, as well.”
Hiroshi tried to fly towards the ship, but was shocked when he looked at his energy gauge. It was draining faster than usual.
“What...?”
He scanned for the cause. It turned out to be the black airship. It was equipped not only with a mana disperser but also its own energy unit. The technology was probably the same type as the Brave Suit. That unit was draining the suit’s energy.
“Crap... Sorry, I have to fall back!” Hiroshi shouted, and then dropped into the jungle below to avoid dying from running out of energy. If he made it into the jungle, he could at least turn off his suit and hide.
—If it’s using the same technology as my suit, does that mean USD sent it?
Hiroshi landed in the jungle, feeling regret as he watched Marine fly away.
✦ ✦ ✦
○
After Hiroshi landed, Marine began combat with the airship. But it wasn’t only Hiroshi who was watching. They were fighting near the Marlay village, and were close enough to be visible.
“The bugman flew that way. I can barely detect any mana, but I’ve got good eyes.”
Nonimora pointed towards the airship. They’d come outside to chase the stolen Branch, but it seemed to be too late.
“So their friends are aboard that ship...?”
Akuto tried to gather mana in his hand to fire off a spell, but it didn’t work right. He still wasn’t used to the lack of energy and mana in this land.
“He said the Republic is attacking and there’s probably gonna be a war!” Keena looked at Akuto, worried.
“We can’t do anything until we know more about what’s going on... And who’s that fighting over there?” Akuto whispered. Korone handed him a telepathic call device. He’d been able to make and receive telepathic calls on his own easily lately, so it’d been a long time since he’d used one.
“A call?”
“It’s from Yoshie Kita. It seems she has a handle on the situation.”
Korone was right. Yoshi was in the command center with Yuko, and she breathlessly informed him on what was happening.
“I have three things to tell you. One: There are three candidates for Emperor right now. Keena. Nonimora. And Marine, the guy who’s fighting. He’s the King of the Republic.”
“Why’s he fighting C-MID8?”
“C-MID8 blew up the submarine force that was bringing him to the Empire. Brave saved him and is bringing him there so he can talk with the Empress. But it seems we’ve been interrupted again. I just lost touch with Brave right now.”
“This is the worst-case scenario... I feel stupid saying this, but we just lost the Jeweled Branch.”
“That’s... a big problem. But the war hasn’t started yet. The front lines are at the beach. Junko Hattori is in a town near the beach, and has managed to talk her dad out of opening fire, at least for now. This is the second thing I wanted to tell you.”
“I’d like to head back there as soon as possible, but it seems there’s not enough mana here for me to teleport.”
“Find a way to get back here, and bring Marine with you. This is not a good situation. The guy from C-MID8 who destroyed the Republic submarines seems to have the same power you do.”
“The same power as me?” Akuto gasped.
“Yeah. They managed to use the cells that were stolen from you to turn a normal person into a demon king. He’s currently in a standoff with the Republic fleet. Nobody can control him.”
“C-MID8 wants to start a war?” Akuto said, panicking.
“That’s what’s happening, probably. But I have this weird feeling that there’s more going on here. Like... I guess there’s a split within C-MID8, and some of them are trying to wipe out humanity. And the new Demon King is on the side of the people who are trying to destroy humanity. That was my third point. Shocking, huh?”
“So all this happened while we were out wandering the jungle?”
It was obvious now that C-MID8 had sent Akuto crashing into the jungle as part of a deliberate plot.
“So for now, we need to help him...”
Akuto looked up into the sky. But the battle between the airship and Marine was already over. Marine was being sucked into an open hatch in the airship. He was unconscious and floating in mid-air.
“So they’re one step ahead of us.” Akuto said, bitterly. As Marine went inside the airship, someone else flew out of it, and towards Akuto.