Volume 24, Chapter 1: A Fuse Burns

The situation had developed into the next phase.

"Even so, will things just end like this?"

In the voice of Alsheyra who said this, one could hear a bit of exhaustion.

Alsheyra stood on a small mountain of heaped rubble.

She also didn't really want to believe that this rubble was the palace she had lived her life in.

But, after pulling out a piece of cloth that concerned her from underneath the rubble, she noticed that it was clothing from her younger years from the deepest garment room, making her unable to do anything but believe everything before her.

It was the clothing she had worn for her coronation ceremony.

"I was still small back then."

She muttered.

In order to maintain her longevity, she had manipulated her Kei to stop her growth.

"In the first place, I should have grown wider, huh."

The reason for stopping her growth was for the current battle.

Alsheyra Almonise.

The target of Grendan's Three Royal Families was to once again acquire the strength of the origin of all Military Artists, Airen, and she was the child born after continuous inter-family marriages.

The unfortunate part was that she wasn't complete, though her Kei power was far superior to any other Military Artist.

And the true complete body had finished some task completely beyond their expectations, and lost her power. Right now, she was being protected by the rescue team, moving amongst the group of people inside the shelters.

That was alright, Alsheyra thought. That child shouldn't have participated in battle.

"But...."

She muttered. It seemed that even her entire body's power wasn't enough. Maybe this was the feeling of burnout produced after completing one mission. Because Alsheyra whose strength was too great and who had always been limited, leaving her unable to fight with full strength, had finally fought once in a situation without limits.

This might be an experience that one might not have multiple times, so right now she was a bit hesitant. She felt excited, but her chest was filled with a feeling of solitude.

"Though I've made up my mind so much, it's still a bit of a struggle."

Releasing the clothes in her hand that had become rags, Alsheyra looked at it.

The final battle still hadn't ended.

The next opponent was there.

In the distant portion of her vision.

The part of the world that was surrounded by flame slowly spread, and the shaking flames made one feel like reality had become blurred.

She didn't know its name. No one knew. Even the Electronic Fairy prototype Saya, and Grendan who was this city's Electronic Fairy also kept quiet, so at the least, there was no one who knew the name of this thing in this city.

Even so, even if they didn't know this thing's name, it was something that they had no choice but to defeat, that was for sure.

"Then.... how's the current situation?"

(Okay.)

Alsheyra asked the Psychokinesis flake next to her.

The voice that came from the Psychokinesis flake obviously belonged to Elsmau.

(The morale of the Military Artists in the surrounding cities is all high, but there is a portion that had become mixed.)

"Ah, there's nothing we can do about that."

Everyone was betting their lives on this battle.

That speech was truly worthy, but most people would probably be roused from being told to bet one's life after a short explanation.

That was the behavior that Military Artists who possessed strength and a feeling of mission should have.

"And next?"

(The current situation is that the people have split into a portion that will participate in the battle and a portion in the shelters. The people in the shelters have been gathered into several cities, and afterwards will leave this place one by one. But for this to complete it will still be about three hours.)

"Ah, just assign this to the people who are good at doing this kind of work. Then, what about this side?"

Alsheyra extended a finger and pointed ahead.

In front of her fingertip was obviously the beast covered with flame.

(The cities that migrated to its surroundings.... they are right now being known as the City Collective, but they haven't combined into a group, rather each city is forming its independent group, preparing to make the next action.)

"Aha."

(They have also sent an invitation to us to partner with them, what do we do?)

"Really...."

Alsheyra touched her chin and thought.

In normal situations this kind of request would be ignored after a laugh.

But, the current Grendan wasn't the same as yesterday's.

"How is the damage to our side?"

(The damage to Military Artists is extremely light, as essentially no one participated in the recent battle, and no injuries occurred as a result of the shockwaves from the battle, and we won't have any problems if we group to take action.)

"Really? Then quickly make the connections to be able to hold a conversation with them."

(Understood, though....)

Elsmau spoke the words after this under her breath.

But Alsheyra couldn't have missed the meaning in her words.

What should the Heaven's Blades do?

Elsmau wanted to ask this. Moreover, she had included the Queen herself in that.

"Weren't they originally people with a lack of coordination? As long as they think of some way to fight without obstructing others, it'll be alright."

(Understood.)

After replying with that, she could feel that Elsmau's presence had fallen off from the Psychokinesis flake, and it seemed that she had gone to contact others.

"Hahh...."

Alsheyra sighed.

"Kanaris, Reverse, Cauntia, Kalvan, Savaris, and Ruimei.... Ah, I fear that we're doomed."

That many of the representatives of Grendan's extraordinarily strong Military Artists had been sacrificed in this battle.

All that remained was only Lintence, Troyatte, Barmelin, Haia, and Claribel. Also Elsmau.

"Ah? You told Claribel to act alone?"

(Yes, she said that she wanted to join with Zuellni. Layfon Alseif went together with her. Should I call them back?)

"....It's alright. Right now it's too late even if we call Layfon. Clara as well, she definitely has her own thoughts."

(Understood.)

"Even if we add one or two pieces right now, I don't think we can do much more of anything."

Alsheyra murmured alone, once again feeling Elsmau's presence move away.

Her body was filled with Kei, and even if she let this Kei flow continuously, the feeling of burnout inside her body wouldn't disappear. In a completely different place from the heat and pressure of Kei was a kind of bleak feeling.

But clearly nothing had ended at all, and this kind of situation was truly troublesome.

"Hahh."

"You seem very impatient."

She didn't know when she had leaked out a sigh, but at the same time another voice came from behind her.

"Lin, are your fingers fine?"

Alsheyra turned her head, gazing at the man's hands. The man who never cared about his outer appearance in the first place still wore a tattered coat, and it didn't seem like his unshaven face could be called anything good.

The man was Lintence.

"I wouldn't have expected that you worried about others, it seems like that end of the world is coming soon."

Though he said that kind of thing, his hands were already bandaged to the point of having no gaps between bandages. The bandages were dyed blue with a special medicine applied to promote healing, and they were also dyed with the blood leaking from the wounds, making unpleasant spots emerge on the bandages.

Those were wounds from the recent battle with L?vateinn.

Of course, the wounds weren't all directly from L?vateinn. If it were truly like that, then even Layfon would no longer be standing.

Though the steel threads could cover the entire city and attack enemies from any angle, they also had their weak points.

To put it simply, it was a similar principle to telephone wires. Sound would propagate through vibrations across a tightly-stretched wire. The vibrations produced by various changes in the battlefield would pass through the steel threads and be transmitted to Lintence. Grendan's crumbling, blows as great as hurricanes, the destructive shockwaves produced by the Queen, L?vateinn, and Heaven's Blade successors' techniques.... these shocks were all gathered by the steel threads, and became vibrations transmitted to Lintence.

If it were an ordinary battle then he could cancel out those vibrations.

But, this hadn't been an ordinary battle.

Lintence had no way to get rid of all of the extraordinary phenomena that continuously sent out sweeping shockwaves, so he had been injured.

"Is this a disaster brought about because of a difference in technique? Nothing at all happened to Layfon."

"There is a difference in the substance of your Dites. Having an almost unlimited use will also have corresponding danger."

Lintence spoke calmly, but sounded somewhat dissatisfied.

"Then, can you still fight?"

"Don't underestimate me. This kind of scrape won't have any effect at all."

"Really~"

Lintence was still cold as always, but he noticed the small bit of anxiety hidden in Alsheyra's eyes.

"What is it? You couldn't have thought that I would have suffered a setback from just this degree of adversity, hm?"

"How admirable of your mindpower to be able to talk about this situation like that."

"Hm."

Lintence used a grunt to answer Alsheyra's words.

They had finally managed to defeat the monster that had eaten away at the lives of so many Heaven's Blade successors, and right now there was another new extraordinary, giant monster.

That was the crisis of the end of the world.

One could only feel that it was boasting to use the words 'this degree of adversity' to describe that kind of large-scale crisis.

"It's no different from 'this degree of adversity'".

Even so, Lintence still said this.

"If you can feel your death, then that's it. Whoever dies after this, whatever city is destroyed, even if the world perishes, those are irrelevant to a dead person. From the moment death befalls someone, the world has ended for that person. Regardless of if the opponent is that kind of monster, all of the fear one feels before death is the same. The problem is whether you can stand up or not."

"Nn~"

"You who have always been spoiled and haven't gotten used to that kind of situation wouldn't understand that kind of feeling."

"....Did you really say that?"

"Isn't that the truth? If you had that kind of feeling you definitely wouldn't have been standing on top of a pile of rubble wearing the expression of a lovelorn maiden."

"That way of speaking really makes me mad, things aren't what you think!"

"Really?"

"That.... I was only thinking of viewing my enemy so I was standing on a rather high place!"

"Is that so."

"You don't believe? You don't believe me, huh!"

"Who would doubt what the Queen says?"

"There's a man in front of me right now holding those kinds of doubts!"

"I never would have thought you would waver because of those kinds of doubts."

"W, what...."

"Why don't you just try crying?"

"Don't joke around...."

Changes appeared in the body of Alsheyra who said this.

Her voice stopped abruptly, and she covered her mouth, hurriedly turning her body so that her back faced Lintence.

"........"

Though he was still looking at her back, Lintence didn't say anything. His gaze passed over her slightly trembling shoulders, looking at the burning beast in the distance.

The flame that seemed to scorch even one's consciousness had painted half of the sky red. From the eyes of the beast that looked as small as grains of sand from where he was, Lintence could feel a fury that made his entire body numb.

That was the final enemy.

Lintence didn't know on what basis he said it was the final enemy. But it was a strong enemy there; that was the most important fact.

"This situation is simple."

Lintence murmured, standing in front of the Queen.

It appeared as if he were protecting her from the gaze filled with anger.

"All I want is this moment. As long as I feel that I exist in this world. It doesn't matter who the enemy is, it doesn't matter how strong they are. It doesn't matter to me what will be produced from letting that thing live on. As long as I myself still live, then it's enough."

Lintence said this.

"Strength is enough. The stronger the better, and it would be the best if I could raise my power to its limits. Rather than being used as a decoration somewhere, it would be better to be burned inside by pollutants. Rather than cherishing my posterity and living on, it would be better to win an ending on some battlefield. I only wandered here because I had those kinds of feelings."

"........"

The shaking behind him stopped, and a gaze sharply bored through Lintence's back.

"If you don't have those kinds of thoughts, you can never live the life of a Heaven's Blade successor. The other guys all think this way. Compared to the city's end and the deaths of people they don't recognize, those people have a target they must chase harder after, and that's why they endlessly chase strength."

"Lin."

"Who cares about the enemies? Who cares about the situation? The only question is whether there is a place where we can use our strength."

"Lin."

"Heaven's Blade successors are those kinds of beings. Those kinds of unredeemable beings. Laughing at the incompetence of the fallen, even if it would have been better for them to escape from that situation...."

"It's enough, Lin."

"........"

"Thank you."

"....Hm."

There was no longer any shaking in the voice that came from behind him. From the dilapidated coat on this back came a slight sensation, making Lintence suspend his speech.

"Maybe you helpers think that burning out here isn't bad, but most people wouldn't think that."

"........"

"So, as the Queen who must protect the citizens of Grendan, what I have to do is already decided."

Kei filled the area behind him, as what was originally flowing inside her overflowed outside.

"First is the peace of this world."

As she said this, her hand left his coat.

She passed by his side.

Her back once again entered Lintence's vision.

But, it was already completely different from the figure he had seen just before.

It was different from what he had seen until now.

It had lost something and gained something.

This was the figure of the newly-born queen.

"The punishment for destroying my home won't be light."

◇

He returned to Zuellni with Felli.

"You!"

Greeting him was a strong blow.

In order to greet Layfon who descended into the outskirts, Sharnid slapped him again and again on the back.

"Really, you did pretty well!"

Being told this by Sharnid in a relaxed and crisp voice made Layfon widen his eyes.

"Senpai, it hurts."

His neck was suddenly hooked, Layfon and Felli were pulled apart, with Gorneo and the others running towards Felli. They probably wanted to hear the gathered information from her directly. Felli had been constantly gathering information while they were moving, and continuously communicating with gathered Military Artists of the cities.

Zuellni's Military Arts head Gorneo was also carefully thinking about what action to take next.

"Not bad not bad, you really are truly incredible."

Sharnid's mood was extremely good. Why would he have this kind of mood? Layfon felt that it was a bit hard to understand.

He felt that something rather bad would happen when person's mood was particularly good.

"I never would have thought that you would take Felli-chyan on a great escape of love."

"What!"

Though he didn't know why he had been praised like this by Sharnid, it had been as Layfon had expected.

"It's not like that at all!"

"What? It isn't? You somehow inexplicably eloped to Grendan, and then your childhood friend got mad and called forth a monster to destroy the world, then Nina got mad and charged at the monster alone, isn't that the current situation?"

"It's not at all! Moreover, what kind of thinking did you have to pull out that kind of cause and effect!?"

"What, you're still unpromising as usual."

"What!?"

Why did he feel helpless from this?

"Ah, but it's indeed be a bit exaggerated to say that the flames of your love are scorching the earth, right?"

"Please don't express something that makes it seem like I said such a thing!"

"That should be about enough, right?"

Harley naturally stepped in.

"Layfon, this is for you."

As he said this he gave over two things - two Dites.

"The Adamantium Dite and the Sapphire Dite, those are what we were able to build."

"Ah, good."

"Originally I wanted to strengthen them a bit, but we ran out of time."

"Wow, how embarrassing."

"....Though, if the Dites aren't enough, this guy will help send them over to you, and speaking of which that's the only use for him in this place."

"Hey hey, that's a bit mean."

"Then, please give that thing a headshot."

"There's a limit to everything."

"Useless person."

"You too, though."

"Rrrrrrrgh...."

"Rr~rr~rr~gh~...."

"Well...."

Seeing the two glaring at each other, Layfon didn't have any way to mediate.

"Hey, you scrap wood duo over there."

At that time cold words were poured over the two of their heads.

Dalshena had spoken.

"How long are you going to speak nonsense for? The Military Arts head is going to give out the battle plan soon."

"Hahaha, that kind of thing doesn't concern me."

"What did you say?"

"Our mission is to help this unpromising fellow to get to where our Captain in over her head is."

"How pitiful that you can proudly say those kinds of lazy words."

"T, those aren't lazy at all. It's really annoying, Shena doesn't seem to understand the wonderful skills of an artisan at all. A true artisan lives in the shadows."

"You demon, hurry up and apologize to the other artisans."

Dalshena's contemptuous look drilled through them.

"You too, it would be better not to always rely on these useless senpais."

"No.... they're trustworthy senpais."

Though he endured a painful stare, Layfon still said this.

"....Um."

Probably because it was an unexpected reply, Dalshena made a strange expression.

"Layfon, you.... Aww, how embarrassing."

Even Sharnid's face went red.

"Your strange thoughts are really puzzling."

"Yes, truly."

Dalshena finished speaking with a stiff expression and nodded her head forcefully.

"You guys...."

"Ah? Me? I have strange thoughts too?"

"Shut up, you accessory."

"What!?"

"It's about time to end this two-man comedy, right?"

An extremely cold voice slipped in.

It was Felli.

"Ya~ Felli-chyan~ Thanks for your hard work."

"You guys are playing around when other people are busy to death?"

Layfon felt a bit restless soon after being glared at.

"We didn't come here to play around. It's Harley's fault for trying to stand out without planning things that the situation became this troublesome."

"You're pushing all of your responsibility onto me!"

Sharnid made another joke, Harley cried out, Dalshena's face tightened, and Layfon made an expression saying that he didn't know what to do as he watched them.

At that time, Felli said something that made the surroundings freeze.

"....The sniper unit and the preparations division want to stand out, huh."

The two of them froze.

"Doesn't that violate your role?"

"You, you're also rear support!"

Sharnid cried out, his voice sounding as if he were about to cry. The normal Sharnid would definitely have relaxedly ignored Felli's comments, but this time was different. Because the soreness in his heart had been pressed on so strongly.

In the end, compared to Harley who stood frozen in place, Sharnid was the victor in mental power as he was still active.

"I never thought of standing out."

"Urgh-"

"But even if I still managed to stand out, then it can only mean that my sense of presence is too strong. I'm extremely sorry for standing out."

Felli lightly lowered her head.

"I want to cry, I really want to cry-"

"Sense of presence.... I'll definitely find a way to get that mysterious factor."

Sharnid and Harley moaned.

"Then continuing, I will report on the situation."

Ignoring the two of them, Felli turned the topic to the next matter.

"Right now, there are twenty-six total cities gathered with Grendan as the center."

Felli began explaining.

"Few disproportionate situations like in the Academy City are among these cities. In other words, there's obviously no way that all of the cities possessing excellent Military Arts forces gathered together."

"Why is that, huh."

Dalshena said this.

Of course, what she meant by 'that' was the current situation that had affected Zuellni.

The cities had suddenly shifted, and come near Grendan.

"Really.... I can't wrap my head around it."

Before the shift, Karian had made a speech, explaining the current situation, but as expected, the development of the situation was still difficult to understand completely.

"Ah, does everyone there think in a similar way?"

In order to cheer on Dalshena who was perplexed, Sharnid spoke.

"The people who know will respond, and the people who completely don't understand will do as much as they can in their situation.... that's how it is right now."

"Is that so.... Which kind are we?"

"Of course we're included in the people who don't understand anything, the confused innocents."

"What unfortunate people."

"Very true."

"Moreover the one who incited all of this was our original Student Council president, how troublesome."

"Yes, we must make preparations in order to stop the events that he has learned about."

"Can I continue explaining?"

"Ahah, of course, little sister-sama of the inciter."

"....Hmph."

Ignoring the smile of Sharnid who had found an opportunity for revenge, Felli continued.

"Though for now we are known as the City Collective, in reality it's impossible to suddenly have everyone directly coordinate with each other. So right now it's become cities acting alone, and at the same time sharing the information gained."

"That's the best way."

"Also, the current level of pollutants outside the city is falling rapidly. If it continues dropping like this, it will be possible to act outside the city even without using external gear."

"Is that really true?"

Everyone was surprised at this point, but Harley was the one who was the most concerned.

"This is information obtained after confirming it directly, I also confirmed it myself."

"Is that so.... I understand the filth monsters live by using pollutants as fuel, but even if a big group of filth monsters was nearby it wouldn't have an effect on the level of pollutants...."

"In other words, that monster eats that many pollutants?"

"What a great appetite. Do you know where that monster is?"

Because of Harley's words, Layfon and the others looked outside the outskirts of the city simultaneously.

The flaming beast that looked simply as if it were on the edge of the world was clearly so far away, but it still seemed extremely large, so how large would it be if it got closer? Layfon couldn't picture it with his imagination alone.

"Being able to affect the level of pollutants from that far away, couldn't that monster single-handedly get rid of all of the pollutants?"

"At the cost of burning out this world?"

Felli replied extremely coldly.

"Actually, the ground surrounding the monster has already become a sea of lava, and an ordinary Military Artist would be scorched to death just by getting close."

"If there are no pollutants, but the cost is that the ground becomes lava?"

"During that process humankind will be destroyed."

"Then never mind."

While listening to the conversation between Sharnid and Dalshena, Layfon's gaze drifted around.

"Then, what about Captain?"

Though he knew she wasn't here, he still wanted to look for her.

In the distance, the Military Arts head Gorneo was standing on a platform together with the Student Council president. They might be speaking of the actions Zuellni would take after this.

As one of Zuellni's students, Layfon also felt that he should listen to them speak, but right now he didn't have that kind of time.

Because they were missing Nina in this small group.

She who was the captain of the seventeenth platoon and stood before Layfon and the others, always becoming red-eared from anger and a sense of mission.

"She's still unaccounted for."

After slightly twisting her expression a bit, Felli replied.

"What's going on with that?"

"We made Psychokinesis flakes follow Captain when she appeared in Grendan."

Saying this, Felli explained the battle in Grendan simply.

"....Afterwards, after the battle in Grendan calmed down, that monster appeared, and during the commotion, the responses from the Psychokinesis flakes with Captain disappeared."

"Meaning, right now we don't know what Nina's doing?"

Harley sighed, and a troublesome premonition fille-->>

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