Belialus asked the mysterious person, who introduced himself as <>, a further question.

"I think we just passed through a warp gate, is that correct?"

The answer to this question was .

"Is Alshell here?　I am looking for Archelle."

Belial told him the reason for his visit.

"Yes, he is here."

The mysterious figure affirms. Belialus rushes over and asks.

Please let me see him!

The mysterious man tells him to be quiet.

"Well, wait a minute. She is fine. Don't be in such a hurry, I'll take you to her.

At these words, Belialus regained some of his composure.

"Come with me."

The mysterious figure beckoned to him.

For a moment, Belialus hesitated, but then he resolutely followed the mysterious person.

"Here."

The mysterious figure opens a door in the corner of the room and beckons Belialus to come in.

"Alshell is in this room."

Believing his words, Belialus runs into the room.

Believing his words, Belialus jumped into the room.

"Since you are Jin-dono, I assume you are already aware that my body is an automaton.

"Yes, well..."

"Yes, well, I cannot stop yet. That's why I chose to leave my body and take on the body of a puppet.

That was the answer I had somewhat expected when I told him about 700672.

"Why? It is to fulfill the will of my <>."

"Your last will and testament ......?"

Yes. I can't tell you what it is just yet.

Jin is in a state of slight disbelief when he hears the words of 600012. But there was something more important to confirm.

"So, is Belialus at ......?"

"Well, I'll tell you. I had several prototypes made before I had this body.

This is a story that Jin can understand.

The last prototype malfunctioned.

"What?"

Jin asked back, not understanding what he meant by "malfunction.

As long as the control core of an automata is made by transinfo, the possibility of such an error is extremely small.

It would be similar to copying data on a hard disk.

It is true that it is not 100% certain. But more than that, Jin had never heard of such an error that could cause a <>, including in the days of his predecessors.

"Did you know that this area is a special deposit?"

"Yes."

In addition to being a skarn deposit, it is also a place where eladolite (=mithianite) can be extracted.

"My master chose this place because he was interested in such materials. There are also quite a few magi crystals. Among them, I found a rare one.

Saying this, 600012 turned around, reached to the shelf, and picked up a magecrystal from there. He picked up a magecrystal from it.

"Here it is. I named it ."

"It's ......!"

It was a pink-colored magi crystal. Jin recognized it.

"Hm, you've seen it before?"

"Yes.

The control core of Elena, the Golden Princess of Destruction, an automata who had once been an enemy of Anne's sister automata, the previous Magecraft Meister, and Adriana's lineage, must have used this same Magi Crystal.

"It was only recently that I realized that it had strange properties.

"Isn't that <>?"

Jin, who instantly recalled the time of Elena's remodeling, said ahead of the others. 600012's face distorted, perhaps in surprise. .

"That's right. To be more precise, it amplifies <>."

"Is that Mithianite's ......?"

"Are you familiar with the properties of mithianite?　Yes, it's similar, but more limited. Different stones seem to amplify different waveforms of magic power.

"Is that so?"

When I tried to copy Elena's control core, it once emitted a tremendous light in response to Jin's magic power.

So Jin and Ro-kun came up with a hypothesis that the control core amplifies a specific magic power, but they had not been able to verify it without any other samples.

This has been revealed here.

"Magi formulas written in Magi language, following the flow of magical control (Magi Sequence). The mana is then moved and becomes magic. What do you think would happen if a specific element of magic (mana) is transformed on the control core that works in such a way?"

"Would it be a malfunction ......?"

That's right.

It would be similar to the case where certain characters are garbled when typing on a keyboard.

"I can't guess what kind of results this will have. However, I can imagine that the control core will not work properly.

To use the previous analogy, it is as if some of the characters in the written program are garbled. It is hard to imagine that it would work properly.

"Still, thanks to the system of multiple verifications, multiple calculations, and cross-checking, we have been able to avoid fatal run-ins.

Jin felt a twinge in his heart when he heard these words.

"Well, you said that we have been able to keep the system from running out of control, didn't you?　What do you mean by that?"

"Well, I'm sorry. That's why I made such a long preamble.

And that's what 600012 said: .......

* * * *

"What is this?　Alchelle!　Archelou!"

In front of Belialus, floating powerless in the pale blue liquid, were Archelle. Five of them.

The blue liquid was contained in a transparent container, and therefore, the five Archels were also in the container.

The container was so large that it could be described as a small pool, perhaps 30 centimeters thick.

It seemed to be made of a tough material that did not give an inch no matter how hard Belialus hit it.

"It's no use. That is a failure.

"What?

Before he knew it, was standing behind Belialus.

"It's hard to say that most of the parameters such as strength, durability, scalability, applicability, and others are above the required values, but only the suitability is below the standard value, so we have to call it a failure."

"What ...... are you talking about?"

"You, my brother, might be able to make a more suitable body."

< twisted his mouth to peek out from under his mask.

"So, brother Archel, I'm going to ask you to help me with my experiments."

"Wait!　Where is Archel?

He's floating right there!

This is not Archel!　It's just a thing that looks like Alshell!

"What's the difference between you and Alshell?　Do you know the difference between a living thing and an inanimate thing?　<?　Are we alive or not?"

Belialus began to feel increasingly creeped out by what was before him.

"I did not come here to question you!　I want my sister back!"

"That's why you're there. Take whatever you want. You can have them all.

The conversation is not quite on point. Belial thought about how to get out of this situation.

"Yes, yes!　A couple of them must have come after me!　What happened to them?"

But the answer to that question only discouraged him.

"Two?　I don't know. I only wanted you."

His voice sounded cold, even for an automaton.