CHAPTER 4
THE PHILLET SCHEME
After eating the meal Regina made them, Leonis said he was going to get some fresh air and returned to explore Ur-Shukar’s underground area. The mausoleum Riselia mentioned was at the bottom of the Great Arakael Library. But all he found there were fragments of black crystal littering the floor, and no clues relating to the Undead King.
This crystal is identical to the casket I rested in, though…
Leonis picked up a shard of crystal and dropped it in his shadow. The Undead King did seem to have been sealed here.
“You’re pale in the face, Lord Magnus,” Blackas said, appearing from the wavering shadows.
“Yes, I shared my blood with my minion…” Leonis shrugged and sat down next to Blackas. “Did you find any sign of the priest?”
Blackas growled in response, throwing his gaze into the mausoleum’s darkness. “His traces disappeared here.”
“Here?”
“Yes. His shadow was destroyed here. That much is for certain.”
“Hmm…” Leonis carefully scanned over the ground. “So he was destroyed by the Undead King after awakening it…?”
A pathetic way to die, then.
“So it was you, after all?”
“Undoubtedly.”
He wasn’t sure earlier, but hearing what Riselia said confirmed it. That Undead King was the body Leonis was meant to incarnate into.
“So your soul was split into two as you reincarnated, then.”
“Yes. It probably has to do with the world being split.”
After Leonis was sealed in slumber, the world was divided in two. He still didn’t have the first idea what might have caused such a cataclysm to occur, though.
“Maybe some record of what happened remains in the Great Arakael Library,” Blackas suggested.
“Yes, and we did come here to investigate the library, after all.”
He couldn’t check all the tomes stored in the library, but he could throw them into the Realm of Shadows and read them later at his leisure.
Leonis and Blackas left the mausoleum and began searching through the vast underground library. Every time they discovered a tome teeming with mana, they threw it into the shadows, and plundered every magic item stored there.
Their search eventually led them to a gigantic hangar full of dozens of inactive Machina Soldiers.
“What a spectacle,” Leonis murmured, despite himself.
The partially destroyed half-circular space was completely full of Machina Soldiers inside of transparent tubes.
“Can these things move?” Blackas asked.
“They’d probably activate if provided mana, yes.” Leonis tapped on a tube with a knuckle. “There’s no controlling them, though.”
“So they cannot be added to the Dark Lords’ Armies…”
Leonis paused for thought. “No, let’s take them back with us. They are built with mana furnaces, albeit small ones, and those are hard to come by. Besides, if we used the humans’ magical technology, we may be able to have them serve us yet.”
“Very well. Let us do so, then.”
Blackas growled, and the Machina Soldiers were swallowed up into the Realm of Shadows. But as the shadows receded, something glinted from within the rubble.
“…What’s that?”
Was there still an active Machina Soldier? Leonis frowned and approached the light, and…
“…Wait!”
Buried into the rubble was the head of a girl—or rather, the upper half of a girl’s body. “Schwertleite?!”
Leonis hurried over, using a gravity spell to knock away the rubble. The light glinting in the dark went out—it was a horn-like part of her body, glowing and flickering.
“Is she still active?”
“…No.” Leonis touched on the cheek of the Deus Machina, who lay with her eyes closed. “Her mana furnace has completely halted. This is nothing but wreckage.”
Leonis retracted his hand and shook his head. The light she gave off earlier must have been from some residual mana still in her systems.
“If she were a corpse, I could have used her as an undead, but the Realm of Death’s sorcery won’t work on soulless magical apparatuses.”
This was also true of holy magic. Even the resurrection sorcery of Tearis, the Holy Woman of the Six Heroes, wouldn’t be able to repair her.
“…A pity. I had many questions for her.”
What was she—what was the Deus Machina guarding here? Why did she abduct Riselia and call her ”master”?
—Hold on. If she’s a Magical Apparatus, it’s possible…
Realizing something, Leonis picked up the Deus Machina’s discarded upper half. She was made of some material he was unfamiliar with, and was lighter than expected.
“Are you taking it back as spoils of war?” Blackas asked dubiously.
“No. I might just be able to reactivate her.”
“No,” Regina scolded Leonis, leaning in on him. “Put it back where you found it.”
“I—I can’t keep it?” Leonis looked up at Regina, carrying the Deus Machina’s upper half.
“…Mmgh. Don’t gave me those puppy dog eyes! The Hræsvelgr dorm rooms are already full of everyone’s junk.”
“Come now, Regina, I’ll put it in my room,” Riselia stepped in to mediate.
“Huh?” Regina screwed up her face in confusion. “You want this mannequin in your room, Lady Selia? It’s way too creepy! What if its eyes light up at night, or if it comes to life when I clean?”
“I don’t think that’ll be a problem…”
“Besides, what even is this thing? It looks really weird!”
“I guess you’re right about that…”
…He couldn’t very well tell her it was the remains of a Dark Lord.
“Regina, this might be precious evidence that will help us understand the Void world,” Riselia said earnestly. “We should take it back as a sample, along with one of those armored magical apparatuses.”
Regina sighed and shrugged in resignation. “Fine. Do what you want.”
With this, they had approval from their stern dorm manager.
“Besides, if the base technology is similar to ours, we might be able to fix it and learn something about it in the process,” Leonis appended.
Schwertleite was taken over and controlled by an Artificial Elemental created by the humans, which implied human technology might be capable of repairing her, too. But that begged the question: Why did mankind’s magic technology have so much in common with an ancient weapon?
“Do you think you could fix it, Miss Regina?”
“Well, I did take an elective on using magical apparatuses at the academy, but I’m not an expert.”
“Maybe Miss Finé will know how to fix it.”
“Yes, let’s have her take a look at it when we get back to the Academy.”
“Are you done?” Sakuya called out to them from the battle vehicle’s roof. “Because we shouldn’t stay here for too long. Something unfriendly might pass by.”
“Yes, let’s return to the capital.”
“…”
Leonis cast his gaze to Ur-Shukar’s ruins. He wanted to track down the Undead King who stole his Demon Sword… But he couldn’t have Riselia and the group leave him here and go back on their own. And he was also worried about Shary, who he’d left behind in the Seventh Assault Garden.
Either way, I think I’ll run into him again before long.
He keenly had that impression.
And as much as I’m loath to do so, I’ll leave the Demon Sword in his hands until then…
Whispering this, Leonis clenched his fist.
Thirty minutes later, Leonis boarded the battle vehicle and pushed the Deus Machina’s wreckage at his feet.
“…It’s not going to move, is it?” Riselia asked.
“I don’t think so, no.” Leonis nodded.
He wasn’t a big expert on ancient weapons, but with its mana furnace so thoroughly damaged, he doubted anything would go awry.
“Let’s get back to Excalibur Academy, then!” Regina activated the battle vehicle, which rolled away.
Through the front view mirror, Leonis could see the Rognas Kingdom ruins drift away. Riselia gently poked him on the cheek.
“…Miss Selia?”
“You must be tired.”
“Well, yes…” Leonis nodded. “You did suck away quite a bit.”
“…!” Riselia’s cheeks went very red. “I-I’m sorry. I kind of got carried away, so I don’t really remember…”
“I don’t mind, but just be more careful.”
“Y-yes…” Riselia dropped her head, deflated.
But then she hugged Leonis’s head.
“…?”
“Take your time and rest, Leo.”
And all of a sudden, sleepiness overcame him.
“…?”
Looking up, he saw Riselia place a finger over her lips and blink impishly.
…A sleeping charm?
It was very basic sorcery. Anyone with any experience in sorcery wouldn’t fall victim to such a spell, but he really was exhausted, and he’d been careless around her, too. He could have broken the spell with ease, but…the way her fingers brushed through his hair was too pleasant.
…Oh, very well.
Leonis decided to submit to sweet slumber.
Elfiné was six years old when that man killed her mother.
It was in an unofficial military experiment for synchronizing the human brain with Artificial Elementals. In later years, Elfiné would use the Eye of the Witch to sneak into the Astral Garden and try to steal material about the military at the time, only to find all traces of the experiment were purged.
But the one who spearheaded the experiment was clear.
The governor of the Fourth Assault Garden—Count Deinfraude Phillet. Leader of the Phillet Foundation, and Elfiné’s father.
She had never thought of that man as a father, because he had always treated her, his daughter, as nothing but a guinea pig. To ensure she awakened to a powerful Holy Sword, from infancy he put her through an educational regimen that was more akin to abuse and forced her to take dozens of different drugs every day. He forced her to see her siblings as rivals and enemies.
Her older sister was wise to get out of that race sooner rather than later.
It was at the age of ten that Elfiné slipped away from his influence. Having awakened her Holy Sword’s power, she left the Fourth Assault Garden and entered Excalibur Academy. But even so, she hadn’t forgotten about that man for a single day. The man who had killed her beloved mother, sacrificing her for an experiment…
And even now, he stood at the peak of the Foundation, leading the D Project. The terrible plan to taint the Holy Swords given by the planet with the power of emptiness, and turning even its wielder into Void monsters.
…I have to stop him. Elfiné reached out, like she was groping through deep darkness. I have to stop…that man…
It was for this reason she returned to the capital.
“…Mm.”
As her consciousness turned hazy, Elfiné opened her eyes. Everything was covered in impenetrable darkness, however.
…Is this the Astral Garden?
So she initially thought, before she realized her body’s sense of presence made it clear this was the real world, rather than a virtual space.
Her arms hurt. She was bound and restrained on some kind of table.
…Talk about bad taste Elfiné whispered to herself, and held the image of her Holy Sword in her mind.
“Eye of the Witch—Activate.”
But the moment she spoke the words to activate her Holy Sword—
“…!”
Pain rocked her body like an electrical current.
…Not surprising, but still.
The table she was strapped to was a device for restraining Holy Swordsmen. It used direct pain, rather than jamming, to prevent the activation of a Holy Sword. A primitive but effective method.
My thinking’s weaker, too…
Some drug was likely injected into her while she was unconscious. She bit her lip, trying to rouse her sense of pain, which jogged her memory.
Right. Phillet private militiamen kidnapped me at the station…
She knew where the Phillet Foundation facilities were by heart, but there were six sites just in the capital. She squinted, trying to focus her sight and pick up on some clue. And there, in the darkness, some three meltes away, was something even blacker than the darkness hanging over the place. A triangular structure.
…A pyramid?
It seemed out of place in a laboratory. Was it some kind of experimental equipment? But as she tried to get a better look at it…
“It’s an altar.”
A presence suddenly appeared in the room.
She heard the dry scraping of shoes against the floor, and then a small mana light flickered to life.
“…?!”
Elfiné’s eyes widened in shock. It’s been years since she heard his voice and saw his face, but she never forgot them.
It was the man who killed her mother.
“Deinfraude Phillet…” Elfiné spoke his name, her voice shaking.
But he didn’t seem to acknowledge the way she glared at him. He simply held the light up to the pyramid.
“This is an altar made to allow one to hear the voice of the goddess. Twenty-eight years ago, a Phillet expedition party ran into it while investigating ruins in the old Veriad continent, and brought it to us.”
“…”
What was this man talking about…?
“The goddess’s oracle granted us knowledge that was essential in developing Artificial Elementals and technology that was key for the Assault Garden project. It was this that allowed House Phillet to thrive.”
“…Have you gone insane, Father?” Elfiné said with all the cynicism she could muster.
For all she knew, he really may have gone insane. But one thing he said did linger in her mind.
Goddess…
This was a word she encountered as she investigated the D Project. Those corrupted by the power of the Demon Sword all testified to hearing a goddess’s voice. She was convinced this “goddess” was some kind of subconscious mental suggestion planted in their minds by Seraphim, an Artificial Elemental developed for training Holy Swordsmen.
But what this man just said made it sound like the goddess was something else altogether.
“This is where everything started,” the old man said, turning his eyes to Elfiné. “It has been three…no, four years since you absconded, my daughter.”
“…You have no right to call yourself my father.”
“You’re free to think whatever you’d like, but you are still a potential successor to the Phillet name, and nothing will change that. Even now, the power and authority to become my successor is granted to you.”
“True. I will kill you and rise to the top of the Phillet Foundation.”
But she didn’t want to do it to grow House Phillet or the Phillet Foundation, but rather, to expose their darkness and put an end to it all…
“You really are more promising than Finzel ever was.” Deinfraude whispered, and the mana lamp approached her.
“…What is this about? Why abduct me like this, against my will…?”
How she wished she could kill this man where he stood with her glare.
“You are my tool. I simply recalled you back to my side now that I need you.”
“…!”
Had it not been for the restraints holding her in place, she’d have slapped him across the face. She bit her lip to regain her cool—she couldn’t afford to play to this man’s tune.
“So you spearheaded the D Project, Deinfraude.” She revealed her trump card. “I have the evidence. During the Hyperion incident, the terrorists used a Phillet Artificial Elemental to take over the ship. And there was the case where Voids were shipped into the Seventh Assault Garden’s pier…”
“You really are brilliant.”
“So you admit it?”
“Yes. I was involved in all of it.”
Was he just acting defiant? But why would he, when he already had her bound in place? In which case…
“If I don’t make it back, a report on the D Project will be released to the public.”
This wasn’t a bluff. She had configured Cait Sith, her Artificial Elemental, to do that.
But I was going to wait until I had more proof, to make it more decisive and put it to more effective use.
There were many unknown factors when it came to the D Project. Originally, it was a military project to reinforce the power of Holy Swords. But at one point, the project was suspended indefinitely, before it was picked up again by House Phillet.
“What is the D Project?” Elfiné asked, not expecting an answer.
However—
“A ritual to offer up Demon Swords as sacrifices to the goddess,” Deinfraude replied.
“…Goddess? Sacrifices?”
“Tainting Holy Swords granted by the planet to turn them into Demon Swords, and then using them as a catalyst to beckon the Goddess of Emptiness from the Void world on the other side of the tear.”
“What are you talking ab—” Elfiné started, only to pause when she saw it.
A malevolent, mad light glinting in the old man’s sunken eyes. His eyes glowed with fanatical faith.
“Finzel was involved in the D Project too, wasn’t he…?”
“Indeed. Foolish though he was, his research was splendid,” the man said with a voice bereft of emotion.
“So you only saw him as a tool, too…”
Elfiné felt some modicum of pity for her older brother. If he hadn’t been this man’s son, perhaps he wouldn’t have turned out broken like he did…
“Finzel…”
Maybe confessing that Finzel died by her hand would shake this man. But before she could put that thought in the action—
“—I devoured Finzel.”
The words that left the man’s mouth made Elfiné freeze up. “Wh-what…?”
“I used him for sustenance before he fully became a Void.”
“…”
This time, she was truly and completely aghast. Shivers she couldn’t explain ran through every inch and fiber of body.
…What did he just say? Don’t tell me he’s…
Also a Void, just like Finzel was?
“He was a foolish son. A failure. But you, you’re different.”
“…Hearing that from you doesn’t make me happy in the slightest.”
“No, you ought to rejoice.” Deinfraude shook his head. “You were created to become the goddess’s vessel, after all.”
“…Eh?” Confusion overtook Elfiné’s features.
Created?
The word made her draw pause.
“The goddess’s oracle granted us the technology of the homunculus.”
“…Homunculus?”
“We wished to implement the technology for military use, but the plan failed. Homunculi were not granted the power of a Holy Sword by the planet…”
“…”
“The plan was placed on hold. But I saw the potential the technology held, and continued the research into it. By crossing the genes of powerful Holy Swordsmen into homunculi, I created hundreds of failed experiments until, at long last…”
He touched Elfiné’s cheek.
“I created the sole homunculus capable of using the power of a Holy Sword.”
“…Y-you don’t…mean…” Elfiné’s expression froze over.
“And as powerful a Holy Sword as I’d wished—no, even more than I expected.”
“…You’re lying, that… That can’t be…”
Elfiné shook her head atop the restraint table, but the old man continued.
“You are Phillet’s greatest masterpiece, made in a research facility. Whether the Holy Sword you would manifest would truly be strong was a gamble, but it turned out to be a stunning success.”
Deinfraude took something out of his pocket. A black, triangular fragment that didn’t reflect the light.
“…What… What are you thinking…?”
“I shall fill this soulless vessel with the soul of the goddess.”
The black fragment melted into Elfiné’s heart.
“Good. With this—my ambition is fulfilled.”
“…Kuh, nngh…!”
As blackness washed over her thoughts…
Selia… Regina… Saku…ya…
She called her friends’ names.
Le…o…
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