The Tower Capital. Reconstruction efforts had not yet extended to the neighborhoods around its perimeter, most of which still retained the appearance of the old white city of Aspro Terea. Through these streets that could do nothing but wait for their own destruction now strode a giant god. The earth shook. Using its five arms and its head, the Titan held up the very ground beneath the ruins. With each footstep it rent the earth apart and flung another house into the air.
People fled wildly along the city streets. Through their armistice with the conquering Reincarnators, these Tereans had been positioned as nationals of the New Terean Republic, with their citizenship rights formally recognized. However, they were not granted the right to bear arms or to maintain a militia. Consequently, they could do nothing but run.
The armored helicopters crisscrossing the sky above the city had been deployed by one of the Reincarnator companies holding some kind of authority within this region. With the objective of stopping the walking castle of Krios, or even just driving it away, they launched a series of daring bombardments against it. No consideration was given to the Tereans caught up in the blasts as they fled through the streets below.
One of the helicopters broke away from the formation in an attempt to get close to the giant—likely the pilot intended to destroy himself along with the ordnance fitted to the helicopter. This tactic was hardly surprising, given that the Reincarnators could replace their bodies at will.
The helicopter’s self-destructive assault came very close to success, before it was suddenly pierced by a flying, rod-shaped object. The explosives on board ignited, and it was blown to smithereens.
“Bah hah hah hah hah hah hah! What fun! I haven’t taken prey out of the sky since I subdued the great serpent, Python! Come, come, all of you—come at me!” Standing in the ruins of Krios, in the remains of a temple that had lost its roof, the boy hero hurled another spear, bringing down another armored helicopter. “My name is Nefritis! Nefritis the star-feller, one of the Seven Generals of Krios!”
After throwing all of the spears he had available, Nefritis raised his empty hands in the air. Flames burst forth from them, reforming into a long, thin rod. The fire was condensed and solidified into a burning spear.
Nefritis, slayer of monsters, hurled his spear of flames. The weapon left a glowing red trail as it soared through the air, then transformed back into a raging blaze at the moment it struck its target. The armored helicopter was engulfed in a massive fireball and plummeted toward the ground.
The spear of flames was not produced by the hero Nefritis’s own power—this was a Reincarnator’s Skill. The heroes who had been resurrected from their constellations four days prior had received new abilities, pseudo-Skills, from their king. The Seven Generals of Krios were connected to Prodotis via his wide-ranging telepathy, and thus were able to obtain Prodotis’s ability to manifest solid objects of flame simply by praying or willing it. Even more frightening was Prodotis’s overwhelming ability to process these requests and activate his Skill remotely.
Nefritis was joined in his defense of Krios by the three warriors Itimenos, Papus, and Diros, who readied their own spears and arrows of flame and one by one shot down the helicopters flying overhead. The onslaught of the heroes, who had been granted an inexhaustible supply of weapons, could not be stopped.
✦ ✦ ✦
The castle shuddered, and dust rained down from the stone ceiling. A helicopter must have crashed somewhere in the castle. Nue Kirisaki closed her crimson eyes and focused her hearing...and found she could not detect footsteps.
Beneath the ruins of Castle Krios, within the bedrock held aloft by the five-armed Titan, there ran a hidden labyrinth. Aboveground, the walls that once surrounded the castle had been destroyed in the war of the Silver Age, lost without a trace, but it seemed as though the Tereans had overlooked what lay underground in their destruction. Nue advanced through the underground maze where the resurrected heroes had taken up residence.
Nue had been staying quiet for the few days she had been kept confined here. She couldn’t afford to make a halfhearted escape attempt, only to end up under closer watch or thrown in a cell. Nue had resolved not to give Prodotis a reason to revise his original intention to entertain her as a guest, instead simply waiting for an opportunity.
Now, it was finally time to act. It wasn’t that a chance to escape had arrived—there was simply no time left. Castle Krios had reached the city of Reincarnators, the Tower Capital, and the ancient heroes were now beginning something that could not be undone.
I have to stop them. From time to time, she had heard the heroes mutter the words “engine room.” I have to go there and bring this castle to a halt. If I don’t...some ill fate will befall our world... So the girl’s Titan instincts told her.
The closer they drew to the Tower Capital, the fiercer the Reincarnators’ efforts at intercepting the castle became, which was something of a blessing. From the castle’s surface, the heroes fought through their defenses. It would seem that Dill and his comrades had managed to defeat the hero known as Falaina, and the Seven Generals were now six. Including Prodotis, they still numbered only seven people. No matter how superhuman these heroes were, there had to be physical limits to their security.
Nue proceeded through the deep darkness of the underground passage without so much as a torch to light her way. This was only made possible by her Titan senses. The pupils in her red irises lengthened vertically, so right now Nue looked more like a nocturnal beast than a human. She spontaneously placed her hands on the floor, breaking into a four-legged crawl.
“Time’s up.” The voice came suddenly from right next to Nue.
“The recast time on your stealth was...about ten minutes, right?”
“That’s right. Have we received any directions from the company?”
Two speakers were present, appearing without any warning. They wore indigo bodysuits, so dark they were nearly black, and their full-face helmets were the same color. These were clearly Reincarnators, but this equipment did not match that of the Project members.
Digging her claws into the ceiling and hanging upside down, Nue fixed her crimson eyes on the men’s backs and held her breath. She had leaped up to the ceiling in an instant.
“We’ve received a request. The economic damage is already tremendous. Retaliate immediately.”
“Roger that.”
“Let’s get as far inside the structure as we can and self-destruct at our own discretion... Hold on.” The Reincarnators, who had started to move away, stopped in their tracks—and then they turned around.
“Life signs detected. Engaging now.” Nue made to leap at the Reincarnators in a preemptive attack—but then she paused. The man’s gaze wasn’t turned upward. He was instead looking at the far side of the dark corridor, where a hero had appeared with a bow in hand.
Nue resumed running along the ceiling. Wickedly sharp claws extended from her fingers and toes, digging deep into the structure and allowing her to crawl upside down without any issues. Unsurprisingly, the Reincarnators did notice Nue bounding overhead, but at that point their engagement with the hero had already begun. The hero’s arrows of flame and the Reincarnators’ muzzle flashes flooded the corridor with light.
Nue ran with wild abandon. After confirming that the sounds of battle were now far behind her, she released her claws, which had sunk deep into the ceiling, and touched back down on the ground before continuing to run on all fours. Two explosions sounded behind her—as if she cared.
Engine room. Engine room. The engine room! Relying on fragmented information she had overheard during her confinement, Nue ran. Hurry. I have to hurry.
“...There it is.” A hero was approaching her, and a fuzzy light suddenly illuminated the unlit basement. Nue started to enter the room as if drawn inside—and then someone pushed her from behind.
“Let go! Grr...grraaah...!” Whoever had attacked her from behind was silent. Nue’s hands were both pulled behind her back before she was pushed down against the floor; her bones creaked. Should she dislocate her shoulders, or possibly multiply her arms and retaliate? As Nue considered her options, flowing locks of blonde hair fell across her face, brushing against her nose.
You smell nice, Nue thought. The sharply drawn pupils in Nue’s crimson eyes suddenly dilated, wide and round. She realized that the assailant leaning against her back was actually being quite gentle, and her arms were only under such stress because she was fighting back. The person holding her peered at her from her side and held a finger up to their lips, gesturing for silence. Nue realized her assailant was a woman.
As Nue stared at her face in shock, the woman tilted her head slightly and smiled. Then she slowly stood up and away from Nue. She was free.
“...Why?”
The woman did not answer, instead furrowing her brow in distress.
“Can’t you talk?”
The woman simply nodded. This was such an ordinary gesture that, under the circumstances, Nue almost felt deflated. The woman looked to be about thirty years old—around the same age Nue’s mother had been when she died. Her expression was kind and yet forlorn, a strange contrast to the battle garb she wore.