“An asteroid? One big enough to destroy the Empire?”
Yoshie had opened a line to Akuto, and had just finished explaining the situation to him. He was having trouble understanding what was going on. Each new thing she said just made the situation more confusing.
The Faceless Power the Republic wielded was defeating the Empire. Hiroshi had almost defeated Kei, but was stopped by Kento. And he had lost the Jeweled Branch to The One.
And now there was an approaching asteroid...?
There were only two things at the heart of all these events. The gods of the outer universe, and the Faceless Power.
“That asteroid’s a little too convenient for the Republic,” Akuto said.
“I agree. Which means...” Yoshie trailed off, but Akuto finished her sentence.
“It was brought by the Faceless Power.”
If something happened that benefitted the Republic, that was probably why. The asteroid would wipe out the Empire, but not the Republic. Though maybe that wouldn’t be the case if it resulted in a global ice age...
“It’s quite possible that the masses summoned the asteroid.” Marine nodded.
“So what do we do?” Akuto frowned at him. The two of them had yet to really make up.
“Calm down. But this definitely overlaps with what The One said. Which means that this may be part of his plan to destroy the world.” Marine looked back at him. But Akuto shook his head.
“But the Faceless Power is still the key, right? Which means our priority is shutting down the Faceless Power.”
He had a point. Marine thought for a moment, and nodded.
“Then I’ll put an end to this war. I should be able to do it. And then the Faceless Power will be held in check for a while.”
“I’d appreciate that, if you can.” Akuto’s comment dripped with sarcasm.
“Fix that attitude of yours. You’re going after the Jeweled Branch, right?”
“That’s right. If I can defeat The One and get it back, I’ll be able to completely neutralize the Faceless Power.”
“That’ll tell us where that asteroid is coming from, and perhaps we can even use the Faceless Power to stop it.”
Marine nodded as well.
“Let’s split up, then. Keena...” Akuto turned back to look at Keena.
“Y-Yeah...” She nodded, hesitantly.
“What’s wrong?”
“Um... but...” Keena was mumbling.
“But?”
“N-Never mind... It’s nothing. I’m just a little worried.” Keena shook her head.
“If something’s worrying you, tell me. There’s something I need you to do, too...” Akuto said.
“Huh?”
“You’ve got something that will lead us to the Robe of the Fire Rat that Fujiko was talking about, right?”
Keena didn’t seem to understand at first, but then she took out the pendant hidden under her shirt. It was Peterhausen’s fang, also called “The Dragon-Neck Jewel.”
“I see. There’s also a good chance that The One is heading for the Robe of the Fire Rat as well. But if he didn’t go after the Dragon-Neck Jewel, it means he likely already knows where it is,” Korone said, and then turned to Marine.
“We’ll follow The One then. And then we’ll get both the Jeweled Branch and the Robe of the Fire Rat.”
“He probably wants to get his hands on both before we do. Not that I have any idea what he’s trying to do...”
Marine and Akuto exchanged a glance, before quickly splitting up.
“Let’s go then.” Akuto took Keena’s hand.
“Us, too.” Marine and Nonimora flew up into the sky.
○
“Where is the Robe of the Fire Rat?” Fujiko asked Akuto.
Akuto glanced toward Keena. But she was just kind of spacing out.
“Come on, what’s wrong?”
“Um... you don’t really do what I tell you to do now, Ackie, and you’re scary, and it feels like what you’re doing now is wrong.”
“What’s wrong about it?”
“Um, I don’t know how to explain it. It just feels like it’s wrong...” Keena tried to continue, but suddenly Peterhausen’s fang began to glow. Just like it had done before, a beam of light shot out of it and over the horizon.
“That way, huh?”
Akuto squinted to look at the light. He wasn’t actually looking at it. Instead, he was linking with the gods and using their mapping data.
“It’s on the other side of the Marlay village.”
Fujiko spoke up when she heard this.
“Can you give me the positioning data? I may be able to get there ahead of you.”
“Ahead of me?”
“There’s no mana around the Marlay village, but the teleportation network the old black mages used is still in operation. Since you can’t teleport I may be able to use that network to get there first.”
“Got it. Thanks. Be careful.”
Akuto sent over the location data. He was strong enough now to store up enough energy from his mana-thin surroundings to teleport, but not to do it instantly. Fujiko probably would be able to get there faster than him.
“I’ll go on ahead of you and secure it for you,” Fujiko said.
“Alright, let’s go.” Akuto motioned to Keena as well.
“Y-Yeah...” Keena nodded, hesitantly.
○
“Alright, I’m heading out. Fujiko turned to Yuko and Yoshie. Yoshie nodded.
“Be careful,” she said,
“The One is on his way, right?”
“There’s a field there that stops him from using magic. It won’t be a problem,” Fujiko said, and then took out her notebook.
After two teleports from the Black Mage village, she’d reach the lab where she’d found the journal. One more hop from there would take her to the Fire Rat’s Robe. This chain of teleportation circles is what Fujiko had called “The Black Mages Network”. It seemed to extend to all the labs around the village of the Marlay as well.