CHAPTER 5
THAT WHICH SLUMBERS IN THE KINGDOM
“Ngh… Cough, cough…”
Darkness greeted Leonis’s eyes when he opened them, but he knew there was dust everywhere.
I can’t believe I let them take me by surprise…
Machina Soldiers operated indefinitely by absorbing mana in the air. They were effectively small-scale mana furnaces, and several had reacted at once to self-detonate. The intensity of that blast had demolished the entire area.
Leonis had kept his Rua Meires barrier up, but it hadn’t prevented the ground from caving in. He would’ve been terribly injured by the fall if his shadow hadn’t automatically protected him.
If I’m underground, then where?
Leonis looked around. Ur-Shukar had a sewer system, but it wasn’t anything sprawling. After climbing a heap of rubble, Leonis peered up from where he’d fallen. Roughly ten meltes separated him from the surface. Thin strands of light came through the shaft, faintly illuminating the surroundings. Debris from destroyed buildings had tumbled into the crater, blocking the way out.
Suddenly remembering he hadn’t been alone, Leonis looked around again.
“Miss Regina!” His shout echoed through the underground space, yet there was no answer. “Miss Regina, where are you?! Miss Regina!”
Leonis lit up the tip of the Staff of Sealed Sins. Through the dust cloud hanging over the surroundings, he spotted the familiar color of Regina’s uniform.
“Miss Regina!” Leonis hurried to her, stumbling over the wreckage. “A-are you all right?”
Regina lay limp, her limbs spread out.
“Miss Regina…”
A trail of blood ran from a cut on her forehead.
“Ah… Kid…?” Her eyes opened slightly when Leonis knelt beside her. She forced a weak smile. “I’m glad you’re…safe…”
Regina reached out to touch his cheek and then lost consciousness.
“…!”
Leonis was about to lift her but stopped and reconsidered. Moving her needlessly when she had a head injury was dangerous. The Undead King couldn’t cast any healing spells. His pact with death magic prevented it.
I should have a first aid kit from the academy.
Leonis retrieved a standard-issue medical kit from his shadow. He’d learned to use it during one of Excalibur Academy’s training sessions.
I should at least stop the bleeding.
While he busied himself applying a bandage to Regina’s head, fighting to keep his fingers from trembling, a familiar voice called from behind.
“Is that you over there, kid?”
“Miss Sakuya.” Leonis looked over his shoulder at her.
She approached with Raikirimaru in hand, the shattered stone crunching under her feet. “That took me by surprise,” she said. “I didn’t expect them to self-destruct…”
“You’re not hurt, are you?” Leonis asked her.
“No, I’m fine.”
The mystic eye of time had allowed Sakuya to foresee what would happen a few seconds in advance, and she likely used Raikirimaru’s acceleration to escape the blast radius.
“Is Miss Regina unconscious?” Sakuya inquired.
Leonis nodded. “She probably has a concussion from the fall.”
“Mind if I take a look?”
Sakuya knelt next to Regina and placed a hand over her chest, which rose and fell in shallow breaths.
Leonis narrowed his eyes. “What are you doing?”
“It’s just a little prayer.”
Sakuya’s hand glowed faintly.
“What’s that light?” Leonis asked suspiciously.
It wasn’t mana.
“It’s a power that was passed down in the Sakura Orchid. I was a priestess there, after all.”
“So what you said about that barrier yesterday was true?”
“Mm-hmm. Did you not believe me? The people of the Sakura Orchid are descendants of the Oni Clan, which used such mysterious powers.”
“Descendants of the oni…?”
“Yes. Long ago, the oni ruled over the Sakura Orchid’s lands, creating a country with humans. Their descendants became the Sakura Orchid’s people, or so the legends go.”
Oni are a subspecies of ogres, if I recall…
Dizolf Zoa, the Lord of Rage, had ruled over the ogres.
He did employ some mysterious powers that weren’t based on sorcery…
Sakuya gently placed a hand over Regina’s forehead.
“She’ll wake up in due time. I think she’ll be okay. Holy Swordsmen possess strong constitutions.”
“Thank you, Miss Sakuya.” Leonis sighed in relief and sat down. Sakuya joined him, leaning against a rubble heap.
“Don’t mention it. You’d have saved her even if I wasn’t here,” Sakuya said.
“…?” Leonis regarded her warily. “All I did was put on a bandage.”
Sakuya shook her head. “That’s not what I meant. I thought maybe you’d also give Miss Regina a mystic eye, since you’re the Dark Lord Zol Vadis.” Her eyes suddenly narrowed to piercing slits.
“Leo? Regina! Sakuya!”
Riselia’s voice traveled into the dark. A mysterious light had suddenly enveloped her, and she’d found herself here.
“What is this place…?” Riselia examined her surroundings.
Her vampiric vision allowed her to see without light. Unfortunately, she saw nothing that might help her figure out where she was. Why had she been brought here? While she searched for clues…
Shine.
…a blinding light appeared before her.
“…Wh-what?!”
The surprise made her stumble over backward. A luminous sphere appeared out of thin air. It was two meltes in diameter and shone a faint white. Unknown letters ran across its surface.
Wait, isn’t this…?
Riselia had seen a sphere like this before.
It looks just like Miss Finé’s Eye of the Witch…
The orb floated down, stopping before Riselia. The strange characters on it revolved at high speed.
“…?!”
Riselia reflexively raised her arms to shield herself. She had the feeling a giant eye was peering through her. Eventually, the many letters on the sphere vanished, and the orb floated up above her head.
“Master status, confirmed.”
“It can speak?!”
Riselia almost fell over again in shock. She looked around in a flustered hurry but found no one there… That left little room for doubt. The reverberating mechanical voice came from the orb of light.
“Wh-who are you?” she asked timidly.
More lines of letters appeared on the sphere.
“I am the guardian of the kingdom—Schwertleite.”
“A guardian?” Riselia was surprised by the fact that it answered her at all.
What’s it protecting? she wondered.
Still wary, Riselia dared to ask, “Were you the one who brought me here?”
“Affirmative,” the artificial voice replied.
“Um… Why?”
“Because you are the one I have been waiting for. The one qualified to undo the seal.”
“The one? Qualified?” Riselia parroted back at the sphere. “What are you talking about…?”
The orb of light began to slowly sail away into the dark.
“W-wait!”
Riselia hurried to her feet and pursued the sphere. It wasn’t moving too fast; a brisk pace was all Riselia needed to keep up.
“Was I the only one you took? What about Leo and the others?”
“The intruders to the kingdom have been eliminated.”
“Eliminated?” Riselia came to a stop. “No, don’t tell me that everyone…” Hot anger built in her. Mana illuminated her argent hair. “What do you mean?! What did you do to Leo and my friends?!”
Riselia caught up to the orb and slammed her fists on either side of it. However, her attack was confronted by sturdy metal that resisted her vampiric strength.
“Why won’t you say anything?! Hey!”
The orb became completely unresponsive. After striking it a few more times, Riselia’s fury cooled.
Th-they’re fine. Leo’s there to protect them.
Sakuya and Regina were surely safe with him. That notion alone was a poor comfort, though. After all, Leonis was still exhausted from using the sword.
And I took a lot of his blood last night.
Suddenly, the orb came to a stop.
“Whoa!” Riselia was forced to halt so quickly that she almost pitched forward. “Wh-what…?”
Vrrrrrrrrn!
A strange sound emanated from the sphere, seemingly resonating with something. A moment later…
“Wh-whaaa—?!”
…the ground beneath Riselia vanished, and she plummeted into inky darkness.
“Oh. Now, this is curious…”
So whispered the white-haired priest seated upon Ur-Shukar’s outer walls. His gaze was fixed upon the plaza, which now lay in ruins.
“There’s signs of a battle there.” Curiosity colored Nefakess’s voice.
The long-abandoned city was protected by a powerful guardian that kept Voids away. Its presence had kept the apostles out as well.
“Is the guardian fighting the Voids?” asked a girl clad in white who stood behind Nefakess.
“Who’s to say? I don’t feel any Voids nearby.” Nefakess examined the remains of the battle with a faint smile on his lips.
He leaped from the wall lightly, landing within the city. The girl in white followed after silently, her brilliant blue hair trailing in the wind. However, the moment they landed, countless spell circles appeared, surrounding them. Machina Soldiers emerged from within, metallic carapaces shining.
“The Deus Machina’s scouts have come out to greet us, it seems.”
“Stay back, Lord Nefakess.” The blue-haired girl drew her katana and stepped forward.
“That won’t be necessary, Setsura.” Nefakess favored the Machina Soldiers with a grin. “Come forth, false goddess, born of human obsession!”
Crack, crack, crack, crack.
Fissures ran through the air above the priest, and a beautiful winged girl ripped her way through space, emerging from the fractures.
Seraphim.
She was the complete form of the Artificial Elemental housing a shard of the goddess’s soul as her core. Before, she was a creature the size of a fairy small enough to sit on one’s palm, yet now she looked closer to the angels who’d served the Luminous Powers a millennium ago.
“Heh-heh-heh. You adorable children.” Seraphim looked upon the Machina Soldiers with a pure cherubic smile.
“Now, Seraphim. Let them hear your music,” Nefakess ordered.
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