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The Imperial assembly.
Also known as the Unseen Intent—its name originated from the diet building never being noted on any map. The space five thousand meters underground, lying in the deepest part of the Empire, once had another name.
“The Planet’s Navel. That was what this excavation point was once called.”
The witch’s charming voice echoed all around. Her words flowed like a minstrel reciting from memory.
“Once you confirmed the existence of astral power through the old records left by the Astrals, you began your excavation five thousand meters below the surface, claiming it was a new form of energy… Well, I suppose you were right. You all are indeed wise. Until that point, you’d done the right thing.”
Elletear Lou Nebulis.
The witch was no longer wearing the garments of the Lou family’s first princess. Instead, she donned a jet-black wedding dress. It looked as though a cloud of dark mist had been gathered around her. Though most of her skin was left alluringly exposed by the garment, the sight of the dress still evoked a chill down one’s spine.
“But what a shame. It seems you never learned from your past mistakes. You failed to contain the astral powers a century ago and caused yourselves trouble when that created the astral mages. And now, in order to acquire an even greater power, you attempted to obtain it as well.”
“ ”
“A substance much like astral power, and also not, that the Astrals fearfully referred to as the Great Planetary Calamity. I’m sure you deeply desired it. After being reduced to nothing but mere cyberbrains, you thought that if only you had that power, you could give yourselves new forms. But look at you poor things now.” She paused. Then she placed a hand on her full bosom that could even strike jealousy in the goddess of beauty herself before she continued on. “I was chosen by it. Not you, but me.”
It was a chilling sight—her wavy emerald hair fluttered, yet there was no wind blowing. It was not because of any external force, but because of the enormous amount of power flooding out from within her.
A jet of inky blackness that obstructed all light surged from Elletear’s feet.
“Beautiful.”
The monitors lining the wall began to speak.
“It seems seeking the power has corrupted you. Had this been an epic poem, you would be the monster the hero would slay. However, there is one thing that separates you from becoming that monster—a dream.”
“A dream to create a paradise for all astral mages.”
“You do not seek happiness for yourself.”
“In fact, you are prepared for others to fear you, for others to believe you are a horrific witch.”
“And imagine the resolve it took to abandon your godlike looks. You were willing to go to such lengths to save the weak.”
“What beautiful conviction. What beautiful and lofty principles.”
Applause rang out through the space. Without Luclezeus, there were only seven venerable sages, and each began to offer their opinion.
“My, how generous of you to praise me,” Elletear said, shrouded in mist.
The corners of her mouth turned up. Her cold smile showed no warmth—only contempt.
“In order to show my gratitude, shall I erase you from existence without tormenting you, then?”
The witch had declared war.
And the Eight Great Apostles responded:
“Do you think the caged bird is happy in its confinement?”
“What did you say…?”
“We hope you enjoy your eternal stay behind bars.”
The floor split.
Elletear was standing in the middle of the hall when the four corners of the assembly hall cracked apart. Warped blackish-brown towers appeared from each corner, sprouting up like plants from the ground.
“…What in the world is this?!”
Elletear’s eyes widened as she looked at the four towers.
False Barrier—Planet’s Nucleus.
Electricity discharged from the tips of the towers, enclosing the assembly floor to create an area that sealed away astral power. Simply put, it was a cage for astral power.
“We will return your words to you, Elletear.”
“Perhaps it is you who has succumbed to your own power, you who has lost your original shrewdness?”
Sizzle…
As Elletear attempted to touch the barrier, sparks flew from her fingertips.
“Just as you said, you haven’t eaten in more than a month, taken a sip of water in a week, and lately you haven’t even needed to breathe.”
“It has taken over your body, meaning you are no longer human, but astral power.”
“Which is most favorable for us.”
They could capture her. Elletear had become a mass of sinister astral power. No matter how vicious her power was, she couldn’t use it in the insulated area where it had been nullified.
“We thought this might happen.”
The light in the seven monitors grew stronger.
“You, an experimental subject, escaped from the scientist’s compound. So we began to make preparations for the worst-case scenario.”
“We anticipated you would turn on us should you successfully assimilate with it.”
“And so we prepared this countermeasure.”
“You flew straight into your cage, little bird.”
“ ”
The barrier was like a black curtain. The beautiful woman with emerald locks who stood within it stared up at the monitors.
“Ah-ha! Ha-ha! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
Suddenly, she began to laugh. The alluring giggle that passed through her bewitching lips would have struck a chill in all those who heard it.
“You think I am astral power? No, I am a witch.”
Shwoo…
In that moment, smoke rose from the floor. The black current surrounded Elletear, forming something resembling a cocoon or a chrysalis.
“What?!”
She began to change—to evolve. The power the Eight Great Apostles had so desired that now dwelled in the princess’s body was transforming her very form. She was turning from an astral mage into a monster.
“Oh, you fools.”
Crick…crack…
They heard the unpleasant sound of something breaking into pieces—in fact, the piercing sound was coming from the very four towers that held her captive. Cracks had formed in the black stones, and the Eight Great Apostles could only watch as they grew bigger.
Then the towers began to break.
“Impossible…!”
“We can’t contain her even with this barrier?!”
The towers collapsed. The sound of glass shattering rang as the astral-power barrier was blown to smithereens, and at its center…
A jet-black monster in human form.
A true witch.
She had turned into black particles suspended in the air, as though the night sky had condensed itself and taken on human form. She had no eyes, mouth, or nose. Hundreds of beads of light seemed to be suspended within the monster’s semitransparent black body.
“I am a wicked, wicked witch, after all.”
And she did not mean the type that was an astral mage. She had turned into the symbol of malice—an evil that would bring calamity to the world. Even the Eight Great Apostles, who had once witnessed the Lord’s transformed and grotesque form, held their breaths as they looked upon this monster beyond all human reason. They stared at the witch, who had obtained the vilest power on the planet for herself.
“What a repulsive form…!”
“Ah-ha-ha!”
The witch spread her arms. Elletear, who had abandoned her humanity entirely, seemed in strangely high spirits as she spoke in a bewitching tone.
“Lovely. How wonderful it is to see the Eight Great Apostles so flustered when they cared not about the fear, turmoil, remorse, agony, or other pain caused while treading upon others. In fact, I’d like to broadcast this to the world… Oh my, but if I did that, I’d be exposed to the world as well. Do you think I would make children cry?”
Fwoosh!
Without warning, the monitors housing the Eight Great Apostles broke open.
The power cables connected to each of the monitors—save for the eighth one that had been Luclezeus’s—fell away, and even the screws holding the electronics up flew off and fell to the ground. The letters V, E, A, P, N, O, and W …Vittgenshla, Etienne, Alleten, Promestius, Novalashlan, Ovan, and Wizeman—the leaders of the Empire—disappeared from the monitors.
“Oh? Oh my, ha-ha.” The true witch’s voice rose jubilantly.
The assembly hall’s wall split in half, and steam began to issue from the crack. Beyond the vapors, which were filled with the divine glitter of astral power, a silver Object rose, tearing through the wall.
“An astralnomical soldier. Why, isn’t that one of Kelvina’s failed experiments? A most hideous vessel for your cyberbrains to possess.”
The giant was half astral power and half machine. It was a pseudo-living robot that walked on two legs. Its whole form lifted and lowered as it took breaths like a real animal, and the way it bellowed out astral-energy steam was exactly like that of a living thing.
It ran on astral power.
“We are well aware, Elletear.”
“The calamity in you resembles astral power, but they are actually polar opposites, like fire and water. In other words, astral energy is like poison to you right now.”
Indeed.
In fact, Kelvina, who had become a “malevolent angel” through the calamity’s power, had been eliminated in exactly that way. Iska and Rin had thrown her into an astral-power furnace.
“That element within malevolent angels and witches cannot coexist with this planet’s astral power.
“So when it is exposed to a large amount of astral energy…this is the result. Astral energy doesn’t have adverse effects on humans, but it’s like poison to me.”
Elletear was the final form of a true witch. She had turned into a being who loathed astral energy more than anything in the world.
“You, the official princess of the astral mages, will be purified by the astral energy and disappear. What a beautiful end.”
“You may return to the planet from whence you came.”
The giant thrust out a hand. From a cross-shaped fissure on its palm, a geyser of steam erupted, along with what seemed to be overflowing astral light. The light condensed, and before one knew it, a blinding light shot out at a speed too quick to react to.
“Nightgaze.”
As the band of light flashed, it was accompanied by a high-pitched tone. The gigantic stream of light wasn’t so much a beam as a pillar of pure astral energy that burned through the shadowy witch and the air itself.
Not a trace of her was left.
Nightgaze, a highly pure form of astral energy, was nearly on the scale of a midsize vortex. The light blasted everything away and left only a gigantic hole in the wall.
The assembly hall went quiet.
The wall crumbled, and the wreckage fell to the floor.
“Oh, what fun.”
A beguiling laugh rang out through the space.
“Why, it was so fun that I was almost afraid. I truly despise the strong bullying the weak, but oh, I think I could get used to something as thrilling as this.”
Darkness gathered in the emptiness. The witch, who had been obliterated by the beam of light, converged within a whirlwind of mist and once again formed into a humanoid shape.
“Ugh?!”
“She evaded the light?!”
There was a murmur. Their agitation could be sensed through the gigantic soldier.
“Evade it? Of course I did no such thing. In fact, it was very painful, though I have little sense of pain now. I suppose it was similar to being doused from above with boiling water.”
The witch wrapped her arms around her body.
“…So? Is that all?” She sounded indifferent.
Her declaration evoked a feeling the Eight Great Apostles hadn’t experienced in a century—a chill.
“That wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough. Did you truly believe such paltry astral energy could do anything to me, considering my high compatibility with this planet’s calamity?”
“Impossible!”
“That was enough astral energy equivalent to that of a vortex…!”
If normal astral powers were like a rubber bullet, Nightgaze was the equivalent of a gigantic missile. And the fact that the Eight Great Apostles’ beloved astralnomical soldier was unable to defeat her despite its supreme weaponry had brought the Empire’s rulers fully into the realm of despair.
This meant neither the Empire nor the Sovereignty had any means of defeating Elletear.
Bullets and artillery simply wouldn’t work on her. Even her singular weakness—astral energy—had no effect. She’d mocked Nightgaze for its inefficacy.
The same held true for the Sovereignty. Even if all the astral mages in the entire Nebulis Sovereignty unleashed their powers on her at once, Elletear would likely take everything directly without issue.
“You’re gonna need more than that if you want to harm me at all, that is.”
“Hunh?!”
“Impossible… You’ve already evolved this far…”
“Look, just like this.”
Black lightning—that was all it could be described as—flashed as a wave of light burst forth from Elletear that easily overtook the illuminance of the Nightgaze. It hit the astralnomical soldier, and the entire contraption was blown away. Pierced by the surge of light, it broke into dozens, then hundreds of individual parts that flew through the air.
Then all those parts came falling like rain.
What was left of the soldier fell to the floor of the assembly hall in piles of debris.
“Oh, what a disappointing way to end things. I heard its armor was as strong as the planet’s crust. I wonder if the royal palace’s walls are this weak, too?”
She crossed her arms.
The soldier that had been looking down upon her until then was now nothing more than scraps scattered across the ground. The Eight Great Apostles within likely had been eradicated in the process as well.
“How disappointing. My dear pitiable sages, how I wish I could see you panic for longer.”
She turned her back to it. She had no interest in the pile of junk strewn across the floor. The leaders who had ruled over the Empire in secret for more than a century had met an abrupt end.
“Or so it seems.”
Clatter…
Something stepped on the debris in the assembly hall. Elletear turned around and found a man standing there, holding a thin sword. The red-haired Imperial soldier wore a battle uniform that seemed to be a cross between a coat and armor.
“Oh, Joheim.” The monster in human form—Elletear—let her voice ring as she addressed him. She seemed happy, delighted even. Though an Imperial soldier would have normally been an enemy, when she spoke to him, she sounded as though she was a maiden excited to see her beloved.
“I thought you were keeping watch on the surface? Or did you come here because you were worried about me? Did you think I would lose to the Eight Great Apostles?”
“Partially.”
“?”
“Elletear, I don’t know anyone smarter than you. I don’t plan to play games pretending to worry about you.”
The red-haired soldier walked toward her—the Saint Disciple of the first seat, the “Flash” Knight Joheim. The knight, who was part of the Imperial forces’ key members and yet had sworn loyalty to Elletear in secret, stared straight ahead—looking at the astralnomical soldier’s remains.
“Don’t underestimate the Eight Great Apostles.”
Rubble and machine parts were piled high in front of him.
He looked down upon it all.
“They survived more than a century simply to hold power over this planet. Their ambition and persistence run deep. They’d do anything to guarantee their survival. They have no such thing as dignity. Even if it means…”
Creak.
He had kicked some rubble in front of his shoe.
Underneath were fragments from the seven monitors. They were still glowing faintly even now.
“For example, they might pretend they’re dead under all this rubble.”
“—?!”
The monitor fragments flickered precipitously. It was clear they were still there. Their discomposure at what Joheim had said had manifested as the flickering.
“Look. Even when they’ve been broken to pieces like this and can’t talk or project their forms, they still try to lurk. They likely planned on linking to another machine to restore themselves as soon as we left.”
The Eight Great Apostles were cyberbrains, meaning they had no organic bodies.
Even without an astralnomical soldier, if they had a machine to connect to, they would be able to resuscitate themselves.
“I’m much obliged…” She sighed with both admiration and exasperation. “Really now… How far will they fall? Their bodies have already come apart, yet they cling to this world as only fleeting thoughts.”
The seven monitors flickered incessantly. It seemed as though they were begging Elletear as she looked down upon them.
“I am an evil witch. Though I have no attachment to the Sovereignty anymore…there was something I still wished to do as an astral mage. I’m sure you must know what that is, as a century ago, you were the ones who shed the blood of so many mages and caused them so much strife,” said the princess of the astral mages as she peered down at the Eight Great Apostles, the seven glowing and broken monitors. “So I will trample you to pieces in honor of the anger of all astral mages everywhere.”
“ !”
“…Is what I would like to say, but it seems that won’t be necessary.”
She turned around instead. She beckoned for Joheim with her hand and turned her back to the remains of the astralnomical soldier. The monster in the shape of a human simply walked right out of the hall.
She left the seven splintered monitors behind.
Was she turning a blind eye to them? Were they spared?
After Elletear and Joheim had left, the hall was filled with nothing but silence.
Clatter…
A small piece of debris fell from the cracked concrete ceiling overhead.
“Ugh?!”
Yes.
From the Nightgaze that the Eight Great Apostles had discharged and Elletear’s burst of astral energy, the hall was at its limit.
And it began to collapse.
It started with small fragments, building momentum until the debris grew more and more massive. Right at that moment…from out of nowhere, they heard the witch’s voice.
“Good-bye, criminals of the past.
“Both the Planet’s Navel and the Imperial assembly, the very symbol of authority—you’ve always wanted to go down together, haven’t you?”
Finally, the whole thing collapsed.
Hundreds of pounds, then several tons of rubble. The ceiling crumbled, and the gray rain of pebbles crushed the seven broken monitors, leaving not a trace.
The Imperial assembly and all Eight Great Apostles disappeared from the planet.
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