2
Fifteen hours later.
Three Imperial aircraft secretly touched down in a certain neutral city’s airport.
And almost immediately…
“Alice! Oh, good, you’re safe!”
Nebulis Sovereignty, the Queen’s Palace.
In a land far from the Empire, Queen Mirabella was pressing the comm to her ear so firmly that it hurt. She hadn’t heard her daughter’s voice in days.
On top of that, she couldn’t help but be shocked by her daughter’s report.
“Elletear is behind everything. She invited the Imperial forces into the Sovereignty and worked with the Hydra to kidnap Sisbell.”
“You’re sure about this…?”
“Unfortunately, yes. Elletear revealed it all herself.”
“…”
She practically dropped the comm.
Her palms were sweaty. She transferred her comm from her left to right hand before it could fall and asked her daughter another question, “Alice, what exactly did Elletear say to you?”
“She told me about her goals.”
“What is she after?”
“She wants something stronger than astral power. She wants to be more powerful than the royal family or the Founder, and she almost is already.”
“Something greater than astral power?”
Alice’s report was beyond her comprehension. On the one hand, Elletear wanted more power. As her mother, the queen keenly understood this.
Elletear was perfect.
If only she had a strong astral power, she would have been the next queen.
But her natural abilities were incomparably weaker than either of her sisters’. Those were the circumstances of her birth, and no matter how she struggled, nothing could fix that. Elletear’s grief over her situation might have given rise to her lust for power.
“That’s alarming. What kind of power did she mean would be greater than astral power?”
“ ”
Alice went silent.
“Mother, do you know anything about the Planetary Calamity?”
“What?”
“I don’t understand it enough to explain it yet, either. But I’ve learned that the secret of the calamity lies in Katalisk.”
“Um? In Katalisk?”
That was an area in the northwestern part of the continent. As far as the queen was aware, it was a dangerous place that was filled with malodorous, poisonous gases. The Empire and Sovereignty hadn’t once fought there during the war.
“Alice, isn’t that place just a stretch of toxic land?”
“I’m sure about this information. There’s a clue to the power Elletear seeks in Katalisk. Right now, the greatest threat to the Sovereignty is Elletear. She single-handedly annihilated Lord Mask and an entire Zoa unit at the Imperial border.”
“She what?!”
“She’s attempting to destroy both the Sovereignty and the Empire. Sisbell and I both want to stop her…so we’re going to Katalisk.”
The queen was speechless.
One of the Sovereignty’s greatest veterans, Lord Mask, had been defeated? The man had survived many deadly battles. Yet Elletear had managed to wipe out him and his elite band of troops?
“That news is difficult to accept…”
“Be careful of the Hydra, Mother.”
Alice’s voice was firm.
“Since Lord Mask is unconscious, the Zoa won’t be able to do much. So the issue is the Hydra. Lord Talisman might take advantage of the unrest and send an assassin for you…”
“I will take that to heart.”
She looked out the window. After glancing at the brilliant sunlight that streamed in, Queen Mirabella nodded.
“You be careful, too, Alice. I leave Sisbell and Rin in your hands.”
She hung up.
The Queen’s Space fell quiet.
“The Zoa are missing… And the fact that the Hydra have been silent is disquieting. What are you scheming, Lord Talisman?”
The queen still had no idea.
The Sun Spire that towered over the palace was already deserted.
His breath turned white as he exhaled. It was a chilly night.
During the darkest part of the morning—the time just before daybreak—a group slipped through the Nebulis Sovereignty border.
“Come now, hurry. We can’t allow dear Elletear to beat us to the punch.”
The gentleman wearing a white suit looked back.
Talisman, the head of the Hydra.
He was a burly man with dignified features that made him look like a movie star, and he had a mild-mannered smile. Even the scarf he was wearing to stave off the cold made him look like he’d stepped straight out of the big screen.
“As you all know, the Zoa’s main forces were eliminated.” Talisman surveyed his people. “Elletear is making her way to the planet’s core, so we need to get there first. She’ll be a serious threat to us if she grows more powerful.”
They were crossing the Sovereignty’s border.
To the northern reaches of the continent, there was an old vortex. It was the oldest cavity in the planet and was believed to have formed around the same time the Planet’s Navel had erupted in the Imperial capital.
It was the Gregorio, the sun’s path. Supposedly, the vortex led directly to the planet’s core.
“It seems we have come to a critical juncture… We had planned with the Eight Great Apostles to chart the vortex in five years’ time. All our schemes have been twisted awry.”
The Hydra had developed a proposal to travel to the planet’s core in secret. They’d called it the Gregorio plan and detailed it in confidential documents called the Gregorian Descant.
“Those were three decades’ worth of plans…”
Talisman’s predecessor had started it. Since the Hydra saw value in the calamity, they had decided to band together with the Eight Great Apostles.
The Hydra wanted to strengthen astral power to its limits using the calamity’s power.
The Eight Great Apostles had tried to obtain their ideal bodies through that power.
That was also why the Hydra family had prepared “gifts” for the Eight Great Apostles time and time again. They had even given Vichyssoise over to Kelvina, who served the Eight Great Apostles, as an experimental subject.
But now the Hydra realized that they had blundered in gifting them Elletear, who had gained uncontrollable power from Kelvina’s experiment.
“The Gregorio is in the far northern reaches of the continent. We’ll switch to an air route at an airport, but no matter how quickly we go, the earliest we’ll get there is tomorrow night.”
Beyond the border was a highway, where several large vehicles were waiting for them beyond a sprawling parking lot.
They continued to pave the way ahead.
“Ten years ago, Kelvina managed to descend forty-six thousand meters below the surface of the planet. However, the calamity is believed to lie two hundred seventy-four thousand meters below. It’s completely unknown territory down there, the most mysterious place in the entire planet.”
“Oh? So basically you’re saying there’s no guarantee we’ll make it back,” someone said from behind him. That was the red-haired girl Vichyssoise, who wore flashy piercings. Though the predawn air was freezing, she only had on a thin shirt. “That’s what you mean, right, family head?”
“I suppose you are correct, Vichyssoise.”
“…” Vichyssoise tilted her head at Talisman’s vigorous nod. “Are you sure about this? You’re our leader. You could wait at the Sun Spire while the rest of us go down. Isn’t it dangerous?”
“It’s because I’m your leader that I’m accompanying you,” Talisman said, pulling his scarf from his neck and wrapping it around Vichyssoise’s.
“?”
“You can’t be comfortable in such a skimpy outfit.”
“What? No, sir, I can’t feel heat or cold anymore.”
“I mean your fashion sense. You’re at an age when you should think about your appearance.”
“Uh-huh… Am I…?”
“Of course you are.”
After wrapping the red-haired girl in the scarf, Talisman assessed her and nodded in satisfaction.
“Let us return to the subject at hand. Indeed, we are planning to delve down into the Gregorio, a hitherto-unknown underground cave. I would be setting a terrible example for my people if I didn’t attend the mission.”
“Even though there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to make it back out?”
“Ha-ha. The greater the risk, the greater the reward. I’m broad-minded enough to accept that.”
Talisman shrugged as though the thought was humorous.
In response, Vichyssoise replied, “Hmm. Well, as long as you feel that way.”
Vichyssoise smiled slightly at him. Normally, she always glowered at others, but for just that moment, her lips curled upward.
Just then…
“I apologize for my lateness, Uncle.”
A princess wearing a white coat made her way over to stand by Talisman.
It was Mizerhyby Hydra Nebulis IX.
She had a chiseled, deep-set face and striking hair that was the color of lapis lazuli. Though her hair had originally been as blond as Talisman’s, her powerful astral power had transformed it to blue as it manifested.
“It seems it’s time to leave.”
“Yes, you’re right. We can’t afford to butt heads with Elletear as soon as we get to the vortex. I’ve prepared a countermeasure, but it would be best if we were simply able to avoid her altogether.”
Talisman gallantly approached one of the vehicles. Mizerhyby watched him from behind.
“It’s quite cold… It’ll be some time until the sun rises.”
Princess Mizerhyby of the Hydra exhaled a puff of white.
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