Chapter 12
“THE SWORD IS…BROKEN?” Marchosias said, speaking first.
Having finished discussing what’d happened, Mira and her companions stood around the Monster-Ruling God’s sword.
Thanks to Mira and the Spirit King, the seal on the sword itself had been fortified. From the fragments of the sword they’d used to trace the power coming from it, they already knew that it had been broken long before they arrived.
And yet, seeing the broken sword in front of him, Marchosias looked both curious and surprised.
However, there was no blaming him for this. The sword, which even the Spirit King would’ve been unable to break, was indeed broken.
“How did it get broken?” he asked.
If such a thing had been possible from the beginning, it would’ve been a cinch to seal, and most likely the calamity that’d befallen demons because of it would’ve never come about. That was why Marchosias was so curious how it’d happened.
And yet, to Mira and her companions, it’d always been broken. So, it wasn’t like they were much use asking.
“As far as we know, it’s always been broken. We only managed to find this place in the first place by tracing the sword’s power from its broken fragments,” Mira answered simply.
Showing him the fragments that they’d kept, Mira explained that the sealed sword had already been broken.
“There’s no way…” Marchosias began after hearing this, appearing visibly shaken. Putting together the bits and pieces of what he said after that, they understood that he’d sought to seal the Monster-Ruling God’s sword there in the exact state it’d been in.
However, when he thought back on everything that’d happened, his confidence faltered.
“…Come to think of it, back then… I didn’t have a chance to look at it too closely, did I?” Marchosias concluded after thinking back.
When he’d sealed the sword where they now stood, he hadn’t had any additional time to scrutinize it more closely.
In short, another possibility began to emerge, other than the one in which someone came in, broke the sword, and left with the fragments.
“I also think that’s the most likely explanation. Even using his power, Marchosias probably couldn’t have perfectly sealed the sword without using spirit leylines. Given that, it would seem that the sword was broken at some point and lost around half of its power. We can’t be sure whether this was a coincidence or intentional, though,” the Spirit King proposed.
Mira then let the group know his thoughts, and Marchosias and Barbatos both agreed that this was most likely the case.
While bringing the sword from the spirit leylines’ location to where they currently stood, Marchosias had been taken over by the sword’s consciousness. And so, it wasn’t particularly hard to imagine that the sword had been broken sometime during that period.
It was still unclear what’d happened to the broken parts afterward, but they’d already finished gathering them up. In which case, they didn’t have to worry about the sword of the Monster-Ruling God causing any more trouble.
But just to make sure, Mira and her companions strengthened the seal further, and Marchosias then reinforced it.
“Now, that’s just perfect.”
“It is what I excel at, if I do say so myself.”
Given that he’d been entrusted by the Spirit King with placing such important seals, Marchosias’s sealing skills were indeed masterful.
Watching the way he doubled and then redoubled the seals was like viewing a master go about his craft, such that one couldn’t tear their eyes away from it. Even Wallenstein looked intensely interested.
That said, the skills of modern masters were nothing to scoff at.
“Now, if we just add this, it should make it even more stable,” Wallenstein said, taking out a black cloth which generated a barrier around the seal, as if it were fastening it shut.
And, sure enough, the moment the black cloth was laid around it, the faint, unpleasant aura that’d been emanating from the sword subsided completely.
“Whoa! That’s incredible. Or might I say fascinating. So, you can do it like that too, huh?” Marchosias said in an impressed tone while staring at how the barrier was composed. The combined use of the seal and the magic-infused tool, and the way they complemented each other, was only possible thanks to the advancement of technology.
But that wasn’t all. There was someone else who was also impressed by this seal.
“As I ought to have expected from one of Miss Mira’s friends. You could say this seal is quite marvelous because it’s so localized. Even without spirit leylines, it looks as if it’ll hold just fine like this for the time being.”
Indeed, it was none other than the Spirit King. What’s more, he wasn’t just giving the seal high praise, he’d even spoken of how useful it was. Being that this had come from the Spirit King, it really was high praise.
“It seems like the Spirit King gives your work a thumbs-up as well. He said the way things look, the seal should be able to hold, even without spirit leylines,” Mira said.
“Is that so? W-wow, that’s some pretty high praise,” Wallenstein laughed, looking both shocked and gladdened.
And perhaps for this reason, he became somewhat chatty and explained that the barrier was a special technique that he’d enhanced by utilizing all the information he’d learned from his friends.
In contrast to Wallenstein, who was still feeling rather on top of the world, Barbatos moved on to what they’d be doing with the sword. “I’d say that’s pretty good news. After all, if we no longer need spirit leylines to seal it, then we can bring it back as is and study it further.”
From a safety perspective, they ought to bring the sword back to the spirit leylines and have Marchosias securely seal it there once more.
However, while the seal around the sword coupled with Wallenstein’s barrier wouldn’t hold quite as long as the spirit leylines, the seal would no doubt still remain unbroken for a considerable amount of time.
So, he now had the option of studying the sword.
According to what Marchosias had said, the cause of demons turning dark was indeed this very sword.
If they analyzed the power that’d brought about this transformation, they might also formulate a means of nullifying it or develop a medicine that’d cure it completely. By studying the sword, they might very well make some progress on either of these fronts.
Careful not to let his excitement get the better of him, Wallenstein cleared his throat and, after regaining his composure, suggested, “You have a good point… Hmm, then I’d like to keep it in our custody. I take it that’s fine?”
Barbatos agreed that he should go ahead.
“Hrmm, I think that might be for the best,” Mira said.
In other words, the Monster-Ruling God’s sword would be kept with Wallenstein and his comrades’ organizations. From Mira’s point of view, it would be a lot safer there than it was sealed away god knows where.
What’s more, if they were successful in studying it, they might even figure out a way to completely restore dark demons to their original state, which was even more reason for them to keep it.
Figuring it was best to put all such things in Wallenstein and his comrades’ safekeeping, Mira held out the fragments of the sword and said, “Oh ho, by the way, then would you take these along with you as well?”
“Oh yeah, those. Sure thing. I’ll take them too,” Wallenstein said. He took the fragments, quickly wrapped them in the black cloth, and enveloped them in the seal’s barrier.
Now there was no longer any need to worry.
“All right, now there’s only one problem left,” Mira declared.
You could say that they’d solved most of the issues they currently had before them. They’d discovered and secured the Monster-Ruling God’s sword, which had been behind all the trouble.
Not only that, they’d managed to rescue Marchosias, one of the sword’s victims, and they’d even discovered why demons were transforming into dark demons. The results of their trip had been far above expectations.
However, though she might’ve wanted to call the case closed, the most pressing and important mystery yet remained.
“You mean figuring out who the criminal is, right?” Meilin answered with a triumphant smile, after having stayed silent almost the entire time.
When investigating the monster-repelling amulets which had started this entire search, they’d managed to stumble upon the answer to the mystery of the demons’ transformation.
While all of these parts were a bit complicated for Meilin, who could only scratch her head in confusion, she seemed to have grasped the most important aspect.
“Hrmm, that’s correct. We still haven’t figured out who was behind the amulets, which was our whole reason for coming here…” Mira clarified, nodding in agreement with Meilin. Figuring that there was no better time since they had Barbatos and Marchosias there, Mira took out the cloths she’d been keeping.
They were the very cloths that had been used to make the monster-repelling amulets, upon which was inscribed some sort of magic inscription that neither Mira nor even the Spirit King could decipher.