Lokiella was trembling where she sat on my shoulder. Finally, she snapped.
“Is she stuuupid?! That d-damned idiot Goddess!” She snapped. “What’s she doing manifesting one of those here of all places?! It’s so damned big! Does she have any idea how much energy Thesis is going to have to expend to fix that much dimension warping?! No—she does know and she’s still gone ahead and done it! That… Big dummy! Dummy dummy dummy! Is she a genuine idiot or what?! You’ve got to be kidding me! Vicius is such a damn halfwit!”
Most of us in camp were stunned—although whether they were reacting to the change that had come across the city of Eno or to Lokiella’s furious outburst, I couldn’t tell. In any case, I calmed Lokiella down before she overheated and started to question her once she had cooled off enough to speak.
“Sounds like you know what that thing is.”
“That’s… I’m pretty sure it’s a Divine Labyrinth. Damn it.”
“A Divine Labyrinth?”
“It’s a kind of conception magic that we divines use in our games…but you’ve got to attach them to a divine carving, and really grow it over time. Look…I’ll spare you the details, but it takes ages to set one of those up! I can’t believe it. That thing shouldn’t be here.” Lokiella ground her teeth like she was fighting off a headache. “They’re only supposed to be able to manifest in special places in the heavens—playgrounds that have the right divine seals in place. It shouldn’t be possible here, but she’s done it! I never thought she could—but that damned Vicius has really gone and done it now.”
Lokiella muttered that she might be about to rupture a blood vessel before continuing.
“I don’t know how she looks to you, but Vicius isn’t a divine who’s particularly well-suited to combat. She’s more of a researcher—and not even a good one by heavens’ standards! That’s how we think of her up there! But…damn it! Has she been hiding her true abilities this whole time?! Waiting for this moment?! Just how patient has she been?!”
“So, what is that thing she’s made?” I asked.
“It’s exactly what she needs for a siege…is what it is,” replied Lokiella.
“I see.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“What for?”
“I should have considered this possibility when I saw how much she wanted to stay in Eno. I never considered that she might have a divine carving hidden in that castle ready to activate. I thought she might have one hidden somewhere to cover a large area and improve her divine powers, sure… But I never imagined it possible to manifest something like that here on the ground.”
There’s something important I need to ask, then.
“You’re saying we have no chance of beating that thing?”
“Uuugh…” moaned Lokiella, switching gears. She shook her head. “…Maybe.”
“Then we’ve still got a chance, right?” I asked again.
Lokiella looked up at me, the flash of a fleeting smile on her face.
“You…you want to keep going, don’t you?”
“If there’s still a chance of winning this war, I’m going to press on. I’ll do everything in my power to increase the odds that we do come out on top.” Even risking my life at times. “Same as I’ve always done.”
Lokiella slapped herself on the cheeks as if in self-reproach.
“I’m sorry. I’m just in shock. I never expected Vicius to do all this.”
I snorted at her in response.
“Think about it this way—she’s so scared of us, she’s had no choice but to use that.”
Lokiella glanced in the direction of the white dome.
“Yeah… You might be right. No, I’m sure you’re right. She didn’t use it while we were on the road to Eno, so I don’t think she wanted to do this if she didn’t have to. Maybe Vicius has been so surprised that we’ve forced her to use her secret weapon…”
Lokiella inspected the corpses of a few eucharists that were in the process of melting away a few minutes later. According to her, they had quite a few anti-divine features.
“It might be proof that she’s feeling cornered that she’s sent these things out against us.”
I sent a message to the Wildly Beautiful Emperor that the change that had come over the capital of Alion did not impact our march, and had his forces continue to clear up the remaining eucharists. I also had messages sent out to all of our forces to reassure them, sending the same message to the heroes too.
To any who were worried about the situation, I explained that the city’s transformation wasn’t an issue and that it wouldn’t change our plans in any way.
In times like these, the worst thing me or the Wildly Beautiful Emperor could do is panic, given our position.
“The eucharist fight should be over soon,” I said to Lokiella. “In the meantime, I want you to tell me as much as you can about that Divine Labyrinth.”
“Yeah—all right.” Lokiella kneaded her cheeks with the flat of her hands. “Calm down… Cool it, Lokiella,” she said to herself. Once her breathing was under control, she began her explanation. “It’s a kind of conception magic originally used to train divines.”
“Divines need training, huh?” I asked.
“Well, the labyrinth can be more of a game than a trial. I don’t know how you see us, but we divines aren’t all that different from you, really. Hmm. I mean, I suppose we’re just calling ourselves gods at the end of the day, right? In any case, the gods that the people of this world believe in and divines are entirely different things.”
Come to think of it, I’ve heard terms like cursed god and war god on my travels.
“But that’s beside the point. Divine Labyrinth is a magic spell that manifests a labyrinth-like space with a start and an end point. Conception magic is sort of like a primordial kind of spell, I suppose—no, that doesn’t really matter to you so I’m skipping that part. What you’ve really got to know about a Divine Labyrinth is—” Lokiella went on to explain the spell to me.