“Anos! Sasha! Are you seeing this? Things have taken a wild turn over here!” Eleonore called out through our Gyze link.
I sent Sasha a magic circle to share what Eleonore was seeing.
“No way...” Sasha immediately replied through Leaks.
“Since this is what Ennessone’s Magic Eyes are seeing through the door of god, the image is indistinct. Could this possibly be a fake sun?” I asked.
Sasha gulped before replying. “Unfortunately, there’s no mistaking it. That’s my—or rather, Abernyu’s power...the Sun of Destruction, Sarjieldenav...”
The Sun of Destruction hovered in the sky. Its appearance here had to be the work of whoever had stolen Delsgade, and their motive was clear, since there was only one power stored within the castle to begin with. The Sun of Destruction turned darker as we watched on, coloring the sky in ominous darkness.
“It’s going to manifest completely...”
Sasha’s words came true a moment later. The giant sphere inverted, revealing the dark sun. But the light of destruction didn’t immediately appear. Instead, a small part of the right side of the sun waned.
“The Moon of Creation,” Misha said. “It overlaps with the sun.”
“In other words, the Sun of Destruction and Moon of Creation are currently creating a solar eclipse?” I asked.
“Most likely.”
“What’s going to happen?” Sasha asked Misha.
“I don’t have the memories to answer that. But the total lunar eclipse of Altiertonoa is used to re-create the world, so...”
What Misha was implying was clear. When the authorities of the Goddesses of Creation and Destruction overlapped, the power of Altiertonoa was released—the same could be assumed for Sarjieldenav.
“Hmm. In that case, the complete solar eclipse of Sarjieldenav probably means the opposite,” I deduced.
“But that means...” Sasha mumbled worriedly.
The Sun of Destruction was the order of destruction—the opposite power of creation. With that in mind, it would make sense if its highest authority were to bring a complete end to the world.
“Looks like this was the goal of whoever stole Delsgade and Everastanzetta,” I said.
However, if all this person wanted to do was scorch the earth, this particular move was complete overkill. The regular Sun of Destruction would be enough if that were the case. Was this a means to corner me? Or was this related to what the gods had said about the suppressed order of destruction accumulating to the point of destroying the world?
“The God of War, Pelpedro, said he would bring war to the earth, but I hadn’t imagined something of this scale,” I said.
“If this eclipse is above Gairadite, then they must be targeting Azesion, right?” Eleonore said panickedly. Azesion was her homeland—it was tough for her to stay calm, seeing this.
“Can we...go home?” Zeshia asked worriedly.
“The Moon of Creation and Sun of Destruction might be down there, but that doesn’t mean Delsgade and Everastanzetta have returned to earth too,” I said.
“They can’t be hidden on earth,” Misha clarified.
The castles had too much magic power to hide on earth. It was unlikely the perpetrator would do something as foolish as that.
“Bringing down the sun and moon won’t help if the Goddesses of Destruction and Creation aren’t suppressed as well. Us rushing to the earth is probably exactly what they’re hoping we’d do,” I said.
Doing so would close the door of god and cut off the path back to the Firmament of the Gods. The Sun of Destruction would be even harder to deal with then.
“But if Sarjieldenav’s total solar eclipse happens, Azesion will be scorched!” Eleonore said.
“Then we’ll just have to resolve this beforehand.”
Azesion wouldn’t be the only target—Dilhade was within reach from that sky too. Or perhaps it was aimed indiscriminately, like Egil Grone Angdroa, and was capable of ending everything and anything. I couldn’t imagine a god wanting to harm the world that much, but if the God of Culling could kill other gods, then this wasn’t out of the question. There was no telling what this kind of god would do.
“I cannot return. But it would be best to inform those on the earth of the situation,” I said. “They’re aware of the army of gods, but they won’t know about the total solar eclipse of the Sun of Destruction.”
“Should we look for a gate to the Divine Realm, then?” Eleonore asked, holding up an index finger. Since Leaks couldn’t reach the earth from here, someone had to return directly. But—
“The divine gates are controlled by the gods. If they close off like they did when we came here, you’d still be locked out. We’ll establish a way of contacting the earth first, otherwise there’s no guarantee Azesion and Dilhade can be protected.”
It was possible that Sarjieldenav’s solar eclipse was just an opening move, and they had something else planned afterwards.
“Hmm... So what should we do?” Eleonore said.
“Use the door of god there.”
“But the door of god is one way, and only gods can pass through,” Sasha pointed out in confusion.
“That’s right. That’s why they don’t expect us to use it. Ennessone can see what’s happening through it, right?”
Ennessone’s head wings stood straight as she answered. “Yup! I can see a little, but not everything.”
“As a magic order, Ennessone is similar to the gods. They haven’t accounted for her, so the door of god is unable to completely shut her out.”
“Huh. But what about the one-way thing? She might be able to go through it, but if she can’t come back, we might not be able to communicate with her. Will we even receive her Leaks from the other side?” Eleonore asked.
“She can make contact through you. The parental link connecting you is bound by magic order and the spell formula activated using it. In other words, it is a connection of order. It should function through the door of god.”
“So I just have to let Enne through the door while keeping the umbilical cord attached?”
“Yes. Ennessone can use Leaks with you from the earth through your link. It should serve as a way to communicate between the Divine Realm and the earth.”
Eleonore nodded in understanding.
“Enne... Will you be okay alone?” Zeshia asked worriedly. “There’s an army over there...”
“It’ll be fine! I don’t have to fight, I’m just contacting people. Besides, Azesion is your hometown. I have to protect it for you! Militia and Demon King Anos’s hometown too! After all, Ennessone was born for the sake of peace.”
Zeshia grabbed Ennessone’s hands in hers. “Zeshia will send you her secret power... SOSupport power...!”
“Thank you. Ennessone will be invincible now,” Ennessone said happily.
“All right. First, I’ll stop the gods from touching this door,” Eleonore said. She held up a hand, and the Jinalena waiting behind her moved to surround the door of god.
“De Ijelia.”
The Jinalena constructed magic circles for earth, water, fire, and wind in each corner, covering the door of god with a barrier.
“I’ll be off,” Ennessone said.
“Be careful out there,” said Eleonore in reply.
Ennessone nodded and spread her four wings, flying up to enter the door of god. The space past the door was an unstable dimension where magic particles sparked fiercely. Although Ennessone was similar to the gods, she wasn’t technically a god. Thus, as an unexpected contaminant intruding upon the order of the door of god, Ennessone created an abnormality that had the door’s magic power in a rampage.
Ennessone’s expression twisted in agony. The magic link connected to her navel was being whittled away by the rough magic field beyond the door, and was weakening with every passing moment.
“This is pretty tough...”
Eleonore held a hand to her abdomen. She took one hundred thousand of the artificial sources from Jinalena, converted it to magic power with Aske, then used it to reinforce the link to Ennessone. The additional power should help their link withstand the door’s raging magic field.
However, using this much magic power would exhaust Eleonore’s own source. They wouldn’t be able to maintain contact for long like this.
“I can see something... Is it Azesion?” Ennessone asked.
I looked through Ennessone’s Magic Eyes to see glimpses of the earth through the raging magic field she was traveling through.
“Try calling out, Enne. My voice should reach anyone connected to the Demon King’s Gyze,” Eleonore said.
The distance from the Divine Realm to the earth was larger than expected. Even through Ennessone, it was difficult for Eleonore to send her voice to the earth. And so it fell to Ennessone to reach out.
“Someone!”
Ennessone sent a wide-ranged Leaks out.
“Someone who knows the Demon King of Tyranny, anyone! Please reply. A danger is approaching the earth!”
She passed through the magic field, her view of the world widening at once. Just then, her body shook with an impact. Ennessone had fallen out of the door of god and collapsed onto the ground. The metallic screech of sword clashing against sword rang out nearby—as well as the sounds of explosions.
Ennessone quickly looked up and found herself in a battlefield. Human soldiers were fighting against the army of gods. Of course, the humans of this era didn’t stand a chance against them, so they were being forced to retreat.
Ennessone had landed on the gods’ side of the battlefield. Marching boots stomped in her direction. She looked behind herself to see a Garmrgund with his sword raised.
“Ah!”
The divine sword came down in a merciless swing. It was so sudden, Ennessone was unable to move. But the sword aimed at her neck stopped midair. A figure—a girl—had come running from the distance, grabbing Ennessone while protecting her. The Garmrgund took a step forward and glared at the interloper.
“Imitation Vebzud!” the girl shouted.
“Gwuh...”
Seven holes were opened in the Swordsman God from behind, where rods covered in a sticky black light had pierced the Garmrgund easily.
“What’s wrong, Ellen? Why did you fly all the way here?”
“Moving too far from the main army is dangerous!”
“Ms. Emilia gave the order to retreat already. We have no chance against them right now. We have to run!”
Appearing on the scene were the black-robed girls of the Demon King Academy—the Anos Fan Union, otherwise known as the Demon King’s Choir.
“Hold on a minute. I think this girl mentioned Lord Anos just now!” Ellen said with a serious look, Ennessone embraced in her arms.