“Move up!”
Devidra and Rouche used all the magic power of the second and third ships to move before the fourth ship carrying Lay and Misa. Nigitt also used the first ship to ram into the Keepers of Destruction, who had also wrapped themselves in black sunlight to try to weave around their formation and directly attack Lay. The first ship was immediately swallowed in fire.
“Go!”
The fourth ship charged along the path of Jio Graze’s flames. Misa cast Beno Ievun to protect Lay from his position on the ship’s roof.
“Get ready! We’re entering the range of the sun!” Rouche shouted.
The damage to the Sky Fortress Azetta accelerated even further, more pieces of the ship crumbling away as the ship was gradually torn apart. The magic circle that activated Fless to power their movement was also damaged, slowing their flight. The closer they got to the sun, the more they would be burned by the light of destruction. But unlike two thousand years ago, the current Sun of Destruction was completely manifested as a solar eclipse.
“Those burned by the black sun cannot regenerate! Fall back, we shall create a shadow!” Rouche cried out.
The third ship moved forward to shield Lay, accelerating with all their energy. But their advance was blocked by Beno Ievun.
“What are you doing, Misa?!”
“We cannot lose our wings yet,” Misa said. “Leave this to me.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! The only magic that can charge through those rays unharmed is the continuous creation magic, Astrastella. Not even Lord Anos could cast that spell! We will be the shield. You protect Kanon!”
Since anything burned by the black rays could not be repaired, a new Sky Fortress had to be created on the spot using Astrastella. But this countermeasure invented by Farris Noin required both a talent for creation and a mastery of creation magic to cast.
“Is that all you think a fake Demon King is capable of?” Misa asked with a smile. “It’s true that my power is based on the rumors and legends of the Demon King of Tyranny. My forte in magic is the same as his. To say that I am an inferior version of Lord Anos would be to state a simple fact of life.”
She lowered her voice quietly. “But that truth applies to only half of me.”
Misa, now piloting the fourth ship, drew two magic circles in the throne room of the Sky Fortress.
“The other half of me inherited the blood of the Great Spirit Reno. And though that, too, can be considered an inferior version of my mother, I can still use the magic of the spirits.”
One circle was Iris, while the other was spirit magic. Misa fused the two circles to develop a completely new spell formula.
“Penrovizeth.”
From the center of the fourth ship spread a giant spherical magic circle that covered the second and third ships. On the outer walls of all three ships appeared scribbles—drawings of the kind of civilian homes commonly seen across Dilhade.
The shape of the Sky Fortress changed; the fourth, second, and third ships morphed into almost the exact shape of the scribbles. The reborn Azetta regained its speed and accelerated all at once. Despite now looking like flying houses, the Sky Fortress had as much flight power as it did in its original form.
“What’s this?” Rouche asked curiously.
“The Doodle Spirit Pentax draws scribbles on the outside walls of houses. As long as the scribbles are given a theme they can draw endlessly. And what they draw will always be new. That’s the rumor surrounding them.”
The spirit magic Pentast borrowed from the rumors and legends of the Doodle Spirit Pentax. By combining the creation magic Iris with spirit magic designed to endlessly scribble, the doodles were given the power of creation.
In this new form the Sky Fortress Azetta could transform into a variety of shapes through Penrovizeth while being destroyed by the Sun of Destruction’s black rays, and by doing so avoid its own destruction. Misa’s new spell formula fused the rumor that the Demon King of Tyranny could use all kinds of magic and create all kinds of spells with the skills given to the daughter of the Great Spirit Reno.
As a demon, she was less powerful than I, and as a spirit, she was weaker than her mother. But by combining her two natures Misa was able to create a spirit magic neither me nor Reno would have been capable of. This Penrovizeth would be just as effective as Farris Noin’s Astrastella.
The Sky Fortress transformed into new doodles faster than the sky of destruction could damage it, allowing them to push through the black rays to the Sun of Destruction.
“Bwa ha ha. Here’s the moment of truth. Second and third ships, get as close to Sarjieldenav as you can. Use Fless to shoot the fourth ship forward.”
“Roger!”
The second and third ships poured almost all their magic power into flying, becoming the wings that pushed the fourth ship upwards. Although Penrovizeth was continuously creating, once they got close enough to Sarjieldenav, destruction would eventually overtake creation. The plan was to identify that point and from there send the fourth ship to the Sun of Destruction alone.
Reinforcement shots of Leiacanetts continued to arrive from Gairadite, but the interval between shots was getting longer and longer. The Keepers had realized that the spell was merely trying to distract them. They were becoming careful, checking which top hats of the Conflagration King could create Keepers and only destroying those. And the Conflagration King had only left a limited number of top hats in Gairadite.
Eldmed himself was on the outskirts of Dilhade, fighting. He couldn’t leave the front lines, so there was a danger in the Hero Academy running out of holy water and magic; although Leiacanetts was just a decoy for the Keepers, if the spell failed to sufficiently occupy them, they’d focus their fire on the Sky Fortress instead.
All told, there was only one real shot at victory: the moment of the solar eclipse. If they reached that moment and failed to strike, then the Sun of Destruction would teleport to another part of the sky.
“The solar eclipse is here,” Misa murmured.
The solar eclipse that had been briefly stopped by the Sword of Three Races resumed its progress. The earth was in the most danger it had ever been, but this was also their best chance of saving it as well. They had to attack the moment the power of destruction was used, and bring down the sun of darkness before the earth was struck.
Lay clenched his two swords as he stared at the ominous solar eclipse coloring the sky.
At that moment, a single flower fluttered down through the air—a lunar snowdrop. Millions more followed in a wave of blinding light, turning the sky silver.