episode_0103

000

Suddenly appearing, Rail, who was transferred by a woman with the appearance of a demon who calls herself a comrade, staggers and rises to his feet in Ayon’s Tower, in Vyto’s warehouse, which can be said to be the treasure trove of the academy located in its basement.

Because the exact coordinates for the teleportation were not specified, Rail, who free-fell from the air of the giant warehouse, felt bruises and fractures all over his body and rolled on the floor in a miserable state.

He swallows the screams rising up to his throat along with saliva, from the pain of the burns on the front of his body and the feeling of being burned from the inside, and raises his body to look around.

Rail immediately realized why that woman sent him here.

Already, traces of a fierce – or perhaps one-sided – battle remained around.

The guards protecting the interior of Vyto’s warehouse were unable to fulfill their duties and fell around as soulless corpses.

All the wounds on the bodies are the same: penetrating wounds piercing the heart or head.

The traces of black magic left in the wounds make it easy to imagine who the culprit is.

The red-haired female demon. A skilled person who can block the sword of the magic swordsman Kleon.

Of course, it was difficult to think that their original skills were equal because Kleon himself did not have his magic sword.

Vyto’s warehouse is a dangerous place that stores dangerous items more than necessary, so the guards who protect it are also skilled people who match its location.

In terms of time, she must have come here first, massacred the guards, and then come to rescue him.

She showed no signs of fatigue, and she did not seem to be injured.

He didn’t know what method she used, but Rail couldn’t help but feel a strange fear that such a demon existed in this world they live in.

Was she acquainted with his teacher, the Black Heretic?

However, it was also true that he was saved by her.

If he had stayed there, he would surely have been killed by Kuon.

Dragging his tattered body, Rail slowly walks inside the warehouse, as if drawn by a feeling that calls him.

The objects around him are all a feast of powerful and dangerous items.

A red gem that can summon an indescribable avatar of chaos from another dimension.

A stone key that can open any `locked` thing just by using it.

However, only a handful of these numerous items can be utilized with the knowledge and technology of modern people.

And the one that stands at the very top among such mysterious objects is the `God-Made Ancient Puppet Enkidu`.

This steel golem, which is undoubtedly the most valuable item inside Vyto’s warehouse and played the biggest role in unraveling the technology and history of ancient people.

It is an item that the Academy recovered after it was being used as a totem and worshiped as a `god` in a certain area with its functions stopped.

Based on the records inside the storage device that this golem had, it was no exaggeration to say that modern people’s understanding of ancient technology advanced by 100 years in an instant.

However, it was judged impossible to revive this golem and make it function again.

Now, it was standing inside Vyto’s warehouse, standing in this place like another guardian of the warehouse.

But the Enkidu in front of him was incomplete.

One arm had fallen off from the shoulder, and the complex internal frame was entirely visible from there.

Rail grabs his mechanically replaced arm.

“… …”

Due to the mental manipulation of Demiurgos, others would not feel any strangeness about this one-armed, incomplete golem.

The prosthetic hand that Rail is wearing now is the arm of this Enkidu.

[Rail… Did you fail after all…]

And the voice full of curse and hatred that is heard from inside Enkidu.

The voice that resonates directly in the mind, not through the physical eardrums, slams the pain that its owner is feeling directly into Rail’s head.

Rail grabs his head and staggers, but the being inside the invisible Enkidu continues to speak as if not caring about such things.

[Even though I gave you Enkidu’s arm and consumed my clone to buy time… to fail like this… I seem to have overestimated your value…]

“Please listen, Master. That woman, Kuon, was our adversary. She will become a puppet of the will of the stars and interfere with us.”

In response to Rail’s excuse, the owner of the voice inside Enkidu. That is, the original soul of Rail’s teacher, the `Black Heretic`, does not move the body in which he is residing and uses the pressure of magic power to crush Rail.

[Incompetent fool… If you used all of Enkidu’s power, even an angel would not be your opponent… Because of your fear, you ruined the entire plan and almost lost a valuable factor.]

Rail bites his lip at the Black Heretic’s words.

The power residing in Enkidu’s arm is the power of interdimensional contamination, at the opposite extreme of divine magic power.

However, the more Rail uses the power, the more his body will be eroded by Enkidu’s contamination and he will transform into a monster that seems to exist in an indescribable interdimensional gap.

Rail was afraid of that point and suppressed the power of the prosthetic hand, and as a result, he was attacked so unilaterally by the angel-transformed Kuon that it could be said to be almost one-sided.

[Anyway, `Aruru Tromeia` does not remember you. The her that you know is as good as you killed her. That’s exactly what you wanted. Who are you going to show your true self to, when you decided to devote everything?]

The master reproaches his foolish, incompetent, and despairing disciple without releasing the magic pressure.

[Now, the plan has to be changed drastically. It can now be said that the complete advent of Demiurgos is impossible.]

“There is still a chance. If you catch Beatrix and kill her-”

[It’s impossible for you. I won’t expect anything from you anymore.]

The master’s voice was like a death sentence to Rail. Knowing what happens to things that are no longer needed to him, Rail could easily foresee what would happen next.

“W-wait a minute…!”

In the next moment, a wire made of an alloy of steel and magic stone stretched out from Enkidu’s severed shoulder and wrapped around Rail’s injured body that could not move properly.

[The result of a long-term endeavor cannot collapse like this. The completion of the tragedy of ending the false world with the hands of humans living in this world will be achieved in a different way.]

The wire pierces Rail’s skin, invades his nerves, and takes away Rail’s consciousness.

His body, which cannot even scream in pain at his own will, is forcibly lifted up by the will of Enkidu and his master.

When the front of Enkidu is opened, there is a space inside with numerous mechanical devices where a human can be placed.

Rail received yet another teaching in his fading consciousness that this was not a `golem` or an `automaton`, but a mechanical armor used by storing a human inside.

001

“That is the whole story of the series of events currently happening at the Academy.”

In the same building as Vyto’s warehouse. That is, on the upper part of Ayon’s Tower, Iona and Laila called the top students and told them everything that had happened without adding or subtracting anything.

Black Heretic, Demiurgos, mental manipulation.

Most of the top students frowned at the absurd story that was hard to believe, but in the case of the Black Heretic, the top student in the `Political Science Department` reacted, and in the case of Demiurgos, the top student in the `Divinity Department` reacted.

“The Black Heretic… So it wasn’t just a scare tactic of the previous generation.”

The top student in the Political Science Department put his hand on his chin and seemed to be organizing his thoughts with his eyes closed for a while.

“Previous generation? I didn’t know that the Political Science Department and the Black Heretic had any connection…”

“It’s not a story worth spreading. In the early days of the Academy, the Political Science Department weighed whether to side with the Council of Elders or the Black Heretic. The Council of Elders, which was the epitome of authoritarianism, was rigid but had legitimacy. And the Black Heretic, who doesn’t reveal their identity but has high-level technology. Afterwards, the Political Science Department, realizing that they were more dangerous than imagined, joined forces with the Council of Elders and only heard that they had sealed them somewhere.”

He answered Laila’s question, shrugged his shoulders and then continued.

“Politics is the power to move people. Depending on who that power acts on and how, the group changes greatly. That’s why I thought of it only as a fable that you have to see through right and wrong and pick out who to join hands with…”

“Maybe it really happened.”

The top student in the Political Science Department nodded and then looked at the Divinity Department this time.

“Demiurgos is what Mrs. Gnome used to scare us by saying `forbidden even to know`. Do you know something?”

“No. The last time I heard about Demiurgos itself was that story. However, according to Laila’s explanation, it is related to the existence of a `Great Demon`, so… Starting about a week ago, I have been seeing revelations and visions. A giant demon-shaped figure appeared in the center of the Academy, and a vision of it splitting the ground and burning the sky…”

The other top students also cannot stop the commotion at those words.

The top student in the Divinity Department was not affiliated with the Order of the Holy Blessing, so she was an officially unofficial priest.

However.

No one here doubted that she was more capable than a high-ranking priest in terms of her abilities and divine magic power.

If it was a revelation she saw, even those without faith would automatically have faith in the illusion she saw.

“Why didn’t you tell us that?”

When the top student in the Magic Engineering Department said that, she shook her head with a slightly dark face.

“Revelations and visions are warnings. They are not prophecies. The biggest problem we are currently facing was `the Execution Department`, and I thought that if we caught them, this revelation would disappear.”

“… There’s no need to create unnecessary anxiety. There’s no need to blame her too much.”

The top student in the Political Science Department defends her, and the others remain silent.

Everyone had dark faces.

“…Laila Flamewatch. I believe what you said. Actually, it doesn’t seem like there’s no evidence at all.”

“…Unexpected. You’re taking my side.”

When the top student in the Political Science Department said that, Laila answered as if a little surprised.

The top student snorted and answered.

“You can’t do politics if you can’t figure out whether a human is lying or not. Even if you are caught up in something like a delusion, I know that you are telling the truth. And if the revelation or vision she saw is talking about the advent of the Great Demon that you mentioned… Even if it’s just a worry, we have to move. That’s what the people above have to do.”

“I also believe Laila’s words. I think I know why the revelation hasn’t weakened even though the threat of the Execution Department is disappearing.”

When the student in the Divinity Department spoke after the Political Science Department, no one newly expressed dissatisfaction.

“…We need to convey the story to the faculty as well. Their policy is to leave internal problems to the students, but if things get this big, they will have no choice but to move.”

“Where is Mrs. Gnome doing what? She’s the kind of person who would find out somehow and come even if we didn’t call her…”

Laila asked that question, but no one seemed to have an answer to it.

In the next moment, the door to the conference room opened and one of the guards in charge of guarding Vyto’s warehouse rushed in.

“H-hey! Vyto’s warehouse has been attacked by someone! I was going to relieve the guard, but there was no sign of anyone inside… When I went inside, the guards and Mrs. Gnome were…!”

The agitation spread throughout the conference room in an instant.

Laila was the one who spoke while maintaining as much composure as possible.

“What items are missing? If Vyto’s warehouse has been attacked, there must be missing items.”

“W-well, I don’t know much about the items inside… but only that big black golem-like guy was gone…”

“…Enkidu…”

Laila nodded at Iona’s words with wide eyes.

“Traces?”

“I don’t know, it’s like he disappeared without a trace, there are no traces of him moving…”

Iona shook her head at the guard’s words who answered the top political science student’s question and said.

“He probably opened a dimensional gap and moved through it. There will be no physical traces left. Laila, I think I have to go with you and look for traces with magic power sight.”

“Okay. Then-”

Affirming Iona’s words, Laila gets up from her seat, and the other top students also get up following her.

“Going to the warehouse… Me, Iona. And you. The three of us. The rest should evacuate the students or contact the teachers.”

The one Laila pointed to was the top student in the Divinity Department.

“We have to hurry. If Enkidu starts operating in earnest… something uncontrollable will happen.”

“…Iona, do you know something?”

“A little. I’ll explain as we move.”

002

Aruru Tromeia was walking down the road with staggering steps, not even knowing where she was going.

The voice calling her, along with the pounding of her heart, had been getting stronger since yesterday.

She endured it for about a day, thinking that there are days like this…

After tossing and turning in her sleep, groaning in a pain-like loneliness that grew little by little.

She did not go to class and was looking for the source of the voice calling her.

What came to her mind was Leona’s words, who had asked her something two days ago.

She invariably had a sword dream, but this time the place where the sword was located had changed.

Previously, it was in a black space, but now it was in someone’s room, with only the handle remaining, gradually regenerating.

“Students, please prepare to evacuate in case of an emergency.”

For some reason, instructors and top/deputy students were seen doing evacuation drills for students on the streets.

Aruru, who was completely focused on something else, had no room to pay attention to such things.

She just wanted to calm the pounding of her heart that felt like it was about to explode as soon as possible.

And when she came to her senses, she found herself stepping into the residential area of the school.

She realizes that an incredibly powerful wave of thoughts is heading towards her from a specific building, making her mind dizzy.

She finally stops, grabbing her increasingly painful head, at a place that Aruru herself knows.

The mansion of Laila Flamewatch, the top student in the Magic Department.

They were not personally acquainted.

She is a member of the same three major departments as herself, but she is a high-ranking person as the top student among them.

`Huh…?`

But there, Aruru realizes something like a sense of incongruity.

When, where, and how did she find out that this place was Laila’s mansion?

Unceasing tinnitus, and distrust of her own memories.

Eventually, just before she collapses to the ground staggering, there was a hand that grabbed her body.

When she struggled to lift her head and look at the other person, there.

A young man with black hair was looking at her with a surprised face.