Chapter 2: The Towering Tree

Smoke was rising from all over the fortress city of Balerlor in the south of Gardio, screams echoing through the streets. The walls, which had protected its people all this time, had been ruthlessly destroyed, several thousand mechimeras filtering through the created hole. An army of several hundred Kyklops were causing further damage outside the city with the Gardio knights attempting to hold them back with their own Frame Gears.

Leen’s Grimgerde was in front of the city gate, sending down a rain of bullets onto the Kyklops. Linze’s Helmwige was supporting Elze’s Gerhilde from the air in their attempt to repel as many of them as possible.

I opened a [Gate] to join my wives and send the Brunhild knights into the fray. The tide immediately turned in our favor.

“You’re finally here!” “Thank goodness!”

“You sure took your sweet time.”

“Honestly, this was me going as fast as I could… Activate Fragarach!” “Activating Fragarach.”

The twelve crystal panels broke off from Reginleif’s wings and began circling it like satellites.

“Mode Change: Dagger.”

The crystal panels separated into four, then morphed into daggers, forty-eight of them now circling me.

“Gladius!”

Forty-eight meteors soared through the sky toward the Kyklops, light trailing behind them. The meteor storm of daggers was precise in its attack, striking only the Q-Crystal in the Kyklops’s head before moving to the next enemy.

Gladius was an omnidirectional simultaneous attack with the Fragarachs, but I was controlling every dagger, using [Accel] to speed up my processing speed in order to direct them all at once. Honestly, it was pretty taxing. It was impossible for me to move Reginleif itself when I was performing an attack like this, which meant I was left entirely defenseless.

I returned the Fragarachs to Reginleif after I’d defeated a good number of the Kyklops. Any more would be pushing it.

“This feels more unfair each time I see it…” Leen muttered, having stopped shooting. Personally, it wasn’t that unfair given it was extremely limited in use.

“Chaaaaaarge!”

Now that the Kyklops were no longer so overwhelming in number, the knights charged their Frame Gears into battle.

I think they’ll be fine now. Next…

“Who’s dealing with the mechimeras that already breached the walls?” I asked.

“The Gardio knights are attempting to fend them off, but the numbers are far too great,” Linze reported.

The size of the Kyklops could make them a pain to fight, but huge swarms of mechimera soldiers were arguably even more of a pain. If magic was effective, I’d be able to lock on and eliminate them all at once…

Guess we’re back to the wall press for the most efficient method…

The issue was that all the civilians were yet to be evacuated. This city was way too big compared to the towns being attacked in Dauburn and Rephan. I’d already started locking on to everyone, but it was definitely going to take a while.

Something that was also worrying me was that I hadn’t seen the usual soul- sucking vortex anywhere. Had they already finished absorbing all the souls they needed from here?

While I was thinking to myself, I noticed Kuon riding through the streets on Kohaku on Reginleif’s sub-monitor, Allis sitting right behind him. Beside them was Ende, who was sporting a great scowl on his face—he’d had no choice but to leave the Dragoon behind after the damage it received in the fight with the Maestro. We’d considered having him ride a Night Baron instead, but when Allis insisted she wanted to fight on the ground with Kuon, Ende had immediately stepped forward and said that he would accompany them as their guardian. The reasons were entirely selfish, but I did agree that we couldn’t just let the children go by themselves, so I decided to leave them to him.

They weren’t the only ones on their way, though—ahead of them in the air were Yakumo and Frei on Kougyoku, and behind them were Yoshino, Arcia, Steph, and Gold on Luli. Sango and Kokuyou were too slow, so they were hitching a ride on Kougyoku in their small forms.

Their current destination was the central plaza of Balerlor. It was the same kind of area that the kids had fought in back in Rephan too; when searching for a wide area to fight, central plazas became the default battlefield.

A large fountain was at the center of the fortress city, and it was there that Quun, Elna, Linne, and the Gardio knights were fighting the mechimera soldiers.

I was naturally worried about them, but I had no choice but to leave it to the children for now. Once I’d finished cleaning up here, I’d catch up.

◇◇◇

“Come forth, Water! Ballistic Bubbles: [Bubble Bomb]!”

Elna waved her staff and sent several balls of water that looked just like soap bubbles toward the mechimeras. The moment those bubbles touched something, they caused a massive explosion that sent several of the soldiers flying.

“[Shield]!”

To Elna’s right, Linne jumped up and deployed a large [Shield] beneath her, right above the fallen mechimeras.

“[Gravity]!”

Linne increased her weight by several thousand times and landed on the shield, pushing it down to crush all of the mechimeras underneath it. She then repeated those same motions, leaping to a different group of mechimeras, squashing them with [Shield] and [Gravity], and then leaping to her next victims.

The mechimeras were crushed to death one after another, like frozen puddles on a cold winter morning.

“Quun, this is so boring!” Steph whined.

“But it’s the best way to deal with them, so hang in there. I’d love to get on Beowulf and wreak havoc myself, you know?”

The older sister currently being complained to was in the process of making iron walls appear and sending them tumbling down over and over. Under normal circumstances, Quun would have liked to take her Arm Gear for a spin to test out her new and improved weapons, but then it would be hard to persuade the freewheeling Steph to hold back. Right now, Quun was remaining aware of her position as the eldest sister and leading by example.

“When will Frei or Yakumo get here…?”

Then I could leave Steph to them and do as I want, she couldn’t help but grumble inside.

As if her prayers were answered, those two very girls leaped down from the sky, cutting down a mechimera soldier with their blades.

“Sorry to keep you waiting!”

“You did well holding the fort, Quun!” “You’re here!”

Her sisters always came when she needed them, and Quun loved them for it, internally raving about them with great admiration. Though there was just a little bit of selfishness in there—their arrival meant she could move freely now.

A shock wave came from behind and blasted away a group of the mechimeras. Quun turned and saw her only brother and his fiancée riding Kohaku. She could see her other sisters behind them as well. Ende was there too, but Quun paid him little mind.

“It’s finally our turn.”

“Leave your defense to us, darlings!”

Sango and Kokuyou leaped off Kougyoku’s back and transformed to their regular size. Sango let out a roar to the heavens before deploying a tortoise-shell barrier.

“Those of you on support, get in the barrier!” Luli yelled.

Elna and Yoshino clambered onto Sango’s back. Quun would usually join them, but she was already calling out Beowulf from her smartphone and excitedly hopping on; she was fully prepared to join the front lines.

Yoshino called out a glowing translucent keyboard and ran mana through it. “Let’s get this party started!”

Her fingers strung together a jaunty melody—it was the theme song of a film about the adventures of a group of children in search of treasure said to be hidden by a legendary one-eyed pirate. Yoshino was enthusiastically sliding her fingers along the keyboard, as if the image of the children valiantly fighting against the crooks chasing after them perfectly fit the current situation.

Every time Yoshino struck a key, little particles of light shot up around her.

Yakumo and Frei could feel themselves being buffed by her performance. “Let’s go, Allis!”

“You don’t have to tell me twice, Linne!”

With their gauntlets equipped, Linne and Allis leaped at the enemies. Linne used [Gravity] to send her opponents flying with powerful punches while Allis precisely pinpointed her enemy’s weak points and crystallized them with her fists. The two girls were close in age and made for a great team.

“Urrryaaaaaah!”

Clad in her [Prison] armor, Steph ran over (?) the mechimera soldiers at full throttle. Gold finished them all off as they lay on the ground.

Seeing the havoc, Arcia sighed to herself while she struck down the mechimeras with her twinblades.

“Having siblings with such flashy moves makes my plainness really stand out…”

Despite her lacking self-confidence, Arcia was showing even greater results than an average knight. She gracefully dodged an incoming mechimera and slashed its arm off with her blades. To her, these enemies were little more than Zombies, so she felt no hesitation in cutting them down. Though, she did feel it was a waste of time to carve up something that couldn’t even be eaten.

When she looked behind her, she saw Elna on top of Sango and Kokuyou, staff at the ready. Magic was ineffective against the mechimera soldiers—all her [Bubble Bomb] earlier did was blow them away so that Linne could finish them off with [Gravity].

“Entwine thus, Ice! Frozen Curse: [Icebind]!”

Still, she could hold them down with roots of ice. As if she had been waiting for that, Yoshino took the glowing platinum ball from Kuon and held it up in the air.

“Sacred treasure equip!”

The platinum ball separated into threads and became a bow in Yoshino’s hand—not just any bow, of course, but the harpbow that served as the girl’s unique sacred treasure. She ran her fingers along the strings as if strumming a regular harp, then pulled back the last string. Several arrows of light formed in the space in front of her.

“Fire!”

Yoshino aimed her bow to the sky and fired off all the arrows. Those arrows split into further arrows in the air and sent a divine rain barreling into the bound mechimera soldiers. Missing not a single target, the arrows pierced right through their heads, sending all of them collapsing to the ground.

Arcia muttered to herself again, “No, seriously. Having siblings with such flashy moves really makes my plainness stand out…”

With the battle over, Arcia sheathed her twinblades. Kuon approached her on Kohaku.

“Arcia, could I ask you to use [Search] for a moment?” “What for?” Arcia asked.

“I cannot see signs of the vortex that was absorbing souls at the other battlefields, but the dead here do appear to be devoid of them. I was thinking that it might be hiding somewhere.”

“Oh, you have a point.”

Arcia had been fighting in Regulus with her mother before arriving here, so she had seen something similar. It had disappeared when the battle was over, but she hadn’t seen one here in Gardio.

“[Search],” Arcia said, picturing the vortex she’d seen in Regulus in her mind as she activated a search. “It…appears to be somewhere underground. I’m not sure if it’s because they were trying to not get caught or because it was just more efficient that way.”

“Underground? Can you tell me the exact location?”

“It’s at the end of an underground path you can get to from there. It’s very close by.”

Arcia pointed at a round metal hatch in the plaza that Frei then forcefully flung open with [Power Rise]. Kuon climbed down the metal ladder that was there and found the familiar-looking vortex in the sewers. The threads of light being sucked inside of it were probably the spirits of the dead.

“I’ve found it. Steph, could you seal it with [Prison]?” “Okaaaaaay!”

Steph leaped down to join Kuon and sealed the vortex. Just like when Touya had cast [Prison] on a previous one, the vortex eventually disappeared on its own once it had lost access to the souls it was absorbing.

“It went away!”

“Thank you, Steph. Now, no more of those who have been sacrificed will be used for evil.”

Kuon patted his sister’s head. He was certain now that the goal of the wicked devout was to gather the souls of the people.

With how boldly they’re going about this, they must be running out of time, Kuon thought to himself. Are they beginning to panic? Regardless, we can’t afford to give them any ground.

They already knew where their base was. The fact that the enemy had sent such a huge army after them made it likely that the base was far from well guarded at the moment.

“This may be the best…and perhaps only chance we have to strike.” After leaving the underground with Steph, Kuon searched for his parents, who were still fighting outside the city walls.

◇◇◇

In the northern part of Isengard was the wicked devout’s tree fortress in the middle of the red lake. Gould was standing atop an altar at the peak of the pyramidal structure within it. One of the vortices made from Spatial Distortion was depositing the spirits of the dead directly into the altar. Those glowing pale- blue strings of souls created an awe-inspiring otherworldly sight.

The large golden ring on the altar was sliding left to right like a dial on a safe.

Eventually, it clicked to a stop and the space in the middle of the circle turned into pitch-black darkness. A small pinprick of light began glowing in the center of that darkness.

“It connected… It connected! Ha ha ha! It finally connected!” Gould cheered as if he were human. Tangerine and Peacock began to feel a touch of fear at the madness they were witnessing from where they stood behind him.

“What…? What exactly are you trying to do?”

Everyone who had become a wicked devout despised the world. They’d sold their souls to the wicked vessels in the hopes of destroying the world that dared to deny their existence. Tangerine had always thought that Gould was with them for the very same reason, but now she was starting to have her doubts. It felt as if he were looking in a different direction from the rest of them. There was definitely a hatred for the world somewhere within him, but that hatred didn’t appear to be so intense that he wished to watch it all burn.

The idea of a Gollem being able to express that much emotion seemed unthinkable, so Tangerine was now struggling to view this mechanical puppet as, well, mechanical at all.

“I refuse to acknowledge this world. I will have you become sacrifices for my wish,” Gould said as he turned around and looked at the two wicked devout, his red eyes piercing through them. They could feel obsession, hatred, and anger in the Gollem’s gaze. “The door has opened. All I need to do now is offer up a catalyst for the process to accelerate.”

Suddenly, several vines shot out from the roots behind Tangerine and Peacock, wrapping around them and binding them tightly to the tree. Their orange mace and green chakram fell from their hands.

“What are you doing?!” “Gould! You bastard…!”

“The wicked god was undoubtedly a divine being. You were pathetic remnants, but at least you were of use at the end.”

When Gould held a hand out to the wicked vessels, they began to warp along with their surroundings. The mace’s handle began to bend and the chakram began to distort as if a great power was pushing down on them. The weapons audibly creaked as they bent, cracks soon beginning to form.

Gould held out his other hand and a black miasma poured forth from it, entering into the cracks he had created in the weapons. The power of the wicked god was being eroded by the power he had received from the fallen god. The metallic sheen of the weapons began to fade, leaving only a flat dullness.

“Gah!”

“Guh!”

As the color changed, Tangerine’s and Peacock’s bodies began to disintegrate. Even after they fully turned to dust, their wicked vessels remained intact, though the metallic sheen was now gone and a reddish-black miasma was pouring out of the cracks.

Gould picked up the two weapons and flung them haphazardly into the gold ring. For just a moment, there was a flash like a little explosion and the pinprick of light grew to the size of a baseball. That was when Gould was able to see that the light was steadily growing bigger.

“Soon… Soon, I will bring them back…”

Gould continued to stare quietly at the slowly expanding light…

◇◇◇

“If we’re gonna attack, we better do it now, huh?”

“Yes. It’s hard to think that this was a well-planned raid. It feels as though they’re blindly hunting human souls…like there’s some reason they have to rush.”

I considered Kuon’s suggestion as I stood overlooking Balerlor, the battle now finished. I definitely got the sense that this string of attacks was a little too haphazard for it to have been done with any careful planning. The strategy of sending an army of mechimera soldiers to Brunhild in order to save time while they harvested souls from elsewhere felt far too crude, as if they didn’t care what came next. Either they were pressed for time in some way, or the result of what they were doing would counter the negatives.

Whatever the case, I agreed with Kuon that something bad would happen if we put it off for too long. If I took too long to make a decision and we ended up too late to stop their plan, then I really wouldn’t be able to do anything.

“I agree with Kuon,” Doc Babylon chimed in, her image appearing in the air. Next to her appeared footage of the tree fortress floating in the red lake that we’d seen earlier. The footage itself was of such low quality, though. “The mana level around their base is decreasing considerably, enough that the drone is being affected. It’s a little hard to see, but if you look at the center of the fortress here…”

The place Doc Babylon was indicating was a pyramid-shaped altar with something sparkling above it. I couldn’t see very clearly, but something was glowing down there.

“What is that?”

“Dunno, but it’s clear that whatever’s making it function isn’t just magic. I’m starting to think that activating this was their goal, so you might want to hurry.”

As if to prove her words right, the lake around the tree fortress began steadily drying up. At the same time, the tree making up the fortress began to slither like a snake, its roots slowly spreading out around it.

Is it…growing? No, it’s just changing shape, right?

Suddenly, the monitor cut out. The drone must’ve lost power.

Gould was using the wicked devout to achieve something. Everything he’d done until now was for that cause. What in the world did Gould—no, Chrom Ranchesse desire that would make him go this far? I didn’t have an answer, but I couldn’t leave him to do as he wished.

“All right, let’s raid them, then,” I decided.

“What shall we do about the children?” Yumina asked.

“There should still be a few wicked devout remaining. I think we’ll have to bring them…”

The moment I said that, the kids all clapped excitedly.

This isn’t a field trip, you guys!

If the mana in the atmosphere was lacking over there, would it be difficult to transport everyone using [Gate]? In that case…

“Daddy! Mr. Whale is here!” Steph yelled.

“Huh?” I muttered as I looked up and saw a large white airship coming from the sky to the east. “Oh, the Val Albus.”

The Val Albus was the Over Gear of the white crown who Yumina was temporarily contracted with. He could definitely transport a bunch of Frame Gears at once.

“Are the Frame Gears that necessary?” Yae asked.

“They probably still have a lot of Kyklops in their arsenal, and I wouldn’t put it past them to have some secret weapon up their sleeve.”

It was hard to imagine they’d sent all their forces here. Regardless, it wouldn’t hurt to be cautious.

After leaving a few Frame Gears behind in Gardio just in case, we stored the rest of them on the Val Albus with [Gate]. The only ones who boarded the ship directly were the Brunhild knights.

I turned to Ende, who was currently scowling at Kuon and Allis happily chatting with each other, and asked, “What’s your plan, Ende?”

“If Allis is going, then obviously I’m going too. Can’t they just do some emergency repairs on the Dragoon to get it moving again?”

According to Rosetta, the Dragoon’s right arm had taken extensive damage and was unusable. It was probably a result of the recoil from the attack that took down the arachne Gollem. Plus, it didn’t help that the Dragoon wasn’t particularly made for hand-to-hand combat.

They weren’t repairs per se, but apparently, they could attach one of the destroyed Night Barons’ arms onto the Dragoon. That would make it harder for Ende to keep his balance, but they said it would be enough to at least let him fight.

Will he really manage, though…? Then again, this is Ende we’re talking about. He’ll probably be fine.

“Master, we’ve, like, totally finished loading the Frame Gears!” Monica reported on the bridge of the Val Albus.

“Monica, how long will it take us to reach the destination?”

“Hmmm… It will take a few hours at normal speed. Were we to go as fast as possible, perhaps thirty minutes? Val Albus will, like, definitely not be able to move after that, though!”

It’d be stranded for a while, huh? But this was an emergency situation. We couldn’t afford to be late.

“Go at full speed, then. Yumina, could I leave it to you?”

“Of course. Albus, activate turbo mode. Head to the destination at maximum speed.”

“Affirmative. Entering turbo flight mode.”

Yumina, sitting in the captain’s seat, ordered the white crown to proceed.

Unlike the usual gradual pace, the Val Albus boosted ahead at incredible speed. It gradually grew faster until it even matched the Gungnir, a rapid transit vehicle.

“Thirty minutes until arrival at destination,” Albus reported from the pilot’s seat.

“All right, let’s make sure the knights all get plenty to eat and rest, then,” I said.

“Of course.”

Yumina made a call to the knights, who were all waiting in the hangar in the white whale airship’s stomach area. They’d been fighting consecutive battles without time for a break since the first attack in Brunhild—it would be good for them to eat while they had the chance. It was impossible to fight well on an empty stomach, after all. Even those of us on the bridge were standing and eating some sandwiches.

Around the time we had satisfied our own hunger, Albus turned to Yumina and said, “Master, there has been a sharp drop in mana in this area. It is impossible to maintain our speed. I must make an emergency landing.”

“This must be as far as we can go,” Yumina mused as she looked at the map window she had pulled up with her right hand. The lake we were heading to…was so dried up by now that it was more crater than lake, but anyway, it seemed as if we weren’t able to fly all the way to the fortress in the center.

“If there’s no mana in the air, won’t the Frame Gears be unusable too?” Elze asked.

“Nope. The reason the Val Albus is having issues is because it works using the spirit kiln that’s installed, which allows it to absorb power from the spirits outside, except all the spirits have run from there, so there’s nothing to absorb. The Frame Gears should be able to somewhat function using the ether liquid, since it’s already infused with mana, though you might struggle to use them for an extended period,” Doc Babylon responded over the comms.

I see now. So basically, the Val Albus’s acceleration is wholly dependent on the presence of spirits.

The Val Albus slowed down before descending toward the ground below. It was an emergency landing, but the descent was gradual enough that it shouldn’t cause any real damage. It might not be able to make it all the way to the fortress, but with any luck, it could at least get us inside the crater.

“Touya, look!” Linze suddenly cried out, pointing at the screen. “Huh?!”

When I turned to the monitor, I saw the tree fortress begin rapidly growing like a bamboo shoot into a tower sticking up from the ground. Its thick roots were wrapped around the tower like a spiral staircase. It brought to mind the picture on the Tower tarot card. It was one of the worst cards you could get, since it signified destruction, ruin, catastrophe, and the end of the world. There was a Tower in Babylon too, but this one was much more ominous and bore a stronger resemblance to the card.

“Neutralizing inertia, antigravity control engaged. Now carrying out emergency landing.”

All we felt was a light, quiet impact as the Val Albus safely landed in the crater.

“Yeah, the spirit kiln is useless here,” Doc Babylon said. “The ship’ll still function a little thanks to the residual mana, but flying will be difficult.”

From the way she was wording it, it was like how you could listen to your car radio even if you ran out of gas.

Yumina ordered Albus to open the hangar door—if there were any complications, there was the chance even the hangar door would be locked shut and we’d be unable to deploy the Frame Gears.

We’d better get going as soon as possible.

“Oh my, it seems they’ve decided to welcome us,” Leen remarked.

The space around the roots of the tree fortress—or, uh, towering tree, I suppose—began to distort, and several Kyklops appeared with it. And then, there was…

“The hell’s that?”

It looked almost like a dinosaur, but with mechanical parts across its body. It appeared like it might be something similar to the mechimera soldiers. Like a…cyborgsaurus of sorts. Or I could just call it a mechimera dinosaur. Either way, it looked just like a Tyrannosaurus rex, and a whole lot of them were appearing alongside the Kyklops.

“From the sky too!”

The sky distorted, but from there came several mechimera pteranodons instead. Their bodies were also fused with machines, with large wings like a Wyvern, a long beak and tail, and at the tip of the tail was something sharp like a cocklebur.

Did pteranodons usually have tails that long? Is it something else?

“Could they be using summoning magic?” Leen suggested as she watched the mechimera dinosaurs…or rather, mechimera flying dinosaurs. “Maybe they summoned beasts from a different world and somehow have them under their control.”

Summoning magic wasn’t out of the question. It was hard to think it wasn’t something that Chrom Ranchesse had an interest in. Was he using the power of the wicked devout to call monsters from different worlds? Surely he couldn’t keep it up forever…

“We might want to attack before they can strengthen their defenses…” Leen muttered.

“We must also sortie, we must! Let us go, Hilde-dono!” “Yes, Yae!”

“Mother, let us come too!” “Oh, wait for me!”

Yae, Hilde, Yakumo, and Frei all dashed out of the bridge.

“We should go too,” I said to Yumina. “We’ll put an end to it all here.” “Right. Oh, but Albus, you wait here to protect and monitor the ship, please.” “Affirmative.”

Yumina lowered herself from the captain’s chair. The Val Albus was equipped with its fair share of weapons; even if it couldn’t move, it could still provide supporting fire.

What was this ghost from the past that was living with Chrom Ranchesse’s memories trying to do here?

◇◇◇

The fight had begun. Thanks to Rossweise’s melodic support magic and Grimgerde’s Full Burst, several of the Kyklops were incapacitated, but the mechimera T. rexes didn’t go down even after several direct hits from the crystal rounds. Apparently, they had quite the tough hides.

Most of the mechimera pteranodons were circling the towering tree, with only a few attacking us. Were they just more cautious? No, they were likely ordered to hang back.

The knights had boarded the Chevaliers and were starting their own assault against the mechimeras. I panicked when I saw one of them go flying after being hit by one of the dinosaurs’ tails, but it appeared they’d guarded just in time and were able to get back up. I sighed in relief. The only real damage seemed to be the shield, which was now bashed in.

“Be wary of their tails! Don’t approach them carelessly!” Lain shouted.

Several spear-wielding Chevaliers lured the dinosaurs with their superior range, then another wielding a greatsword took advantage of the opening and lopped its tail off, letting them all pile on. Frame Gear weapons were generally forged from phrasium, so despite how tough the mechimera dinosaurs’ tails looked, they were still managing to cut through.

Gerhilde swooped in and gave the bridge of one of their noses a solid direct punch. There was an audible crack as its face pushed inward and then went flying through the air—it never moved after that. Elze must have broken its neck.

“Kokonoe Secret Style: Lightning Flash!” “Lestian Sacred Sword: Third Shear!”

Schwertleite and Siegrune cut off the heads of two dinosaurs at the same time. I heard a very annoyed, “I wanna fight too! Let me pilot!” through the speaker from Frei. Even if the enemy ended up using divine venom, though, the girls had their pilot suits with the special resistance now, so the kids probably wouldn’t get a shot to fight in this battle.

We’ll be counting on you when the wicked devout appear, though.

I could already imagine our kids begging for their own Frame Gears when they returned to the future…

Hang in there, future me.

“Touya, we should deal with the flying enemies!” “Sure thing.”

At Linze’s call, I tried to fly off with Reginleif, but…

Hmm? What’s wrong with the acceleration?

“Doc, is something up with this?”

“So, uh…when we modified Reginleif, we miiight have added a spirit kiln to try to assist with aerial thrust, but it appears that has backfired… You’ll struggle to make use of it here. I think you could still make it fly with just mana, though. Are you able to call out your spirits to help?”

I dunno if that sounds like a good idea.

I would basically be forcing them to come to a really harsh environment to work for me. It wasn’t impossible or anything, but it would seriously damage the trust that the spirits had in me.

“Oh well, guess I’ll assist from below.”

Giving up on flying, I released the Fragarachs and transformed them into blades before sending them after the pteranodons. The crystal blades flew like missiles into the dinosaurs, leaving holes in their bodies.

The moment I did that, the pteranodons exploded. “Whoa!”

I whipped my head to the side and saw the Helmwige in its aerial form about to collide with a pteranodon.

Uhhh…this doesn’t seem good!

“Linze! Don’t let them get close! They can blow up!” “O-Oh, okay!”

Linze shot a whole bunch of rounds at the pteranodon that was dive-bombing her. When it exploded, the Helmwige sped right through the middle of its shattered body. That was terrifying, but at least Linze was safe.

“Are there bombs stuffed inside of them? Or are they just ordered to self- destruct?”

Whatever the case, we absolutely could not afford to get close. It would be bad news if any of them dove into any of the battlefields.

Having realized just how dangerous they were, Brunhilde and Waltraute’s Caster Unit began attacking the pteranodons from range. Luli and Kougyoku had also joined in from the rear, spraying the flying dinosaurs with their dragon fire and fireballs.

Yumina wasn’t able to assist, since her sniper rifle could end up only piercing their head or wings—and if that happened, they wouldn’t explode until their body collided with the ground. The bombs were likely in the pteranodons’ chests or stomachs, but it was hard to judge. If we had the firepower to blow them away, we could likely manage to get them to explode while they were still in the air.

The pteranodons that appeared to have been evaluating the situation from

around the tower suddenly turned and flew toward us.

Do they intend to beat us down with numbers?

“Fragarach!”

The twelve crystal blades began slicing freely through the air, piercing the stomachs and chests of twelve pteranodons and causing them to explode. I did my best to defeat them while no one was underneath, since even if they weren’t caught in the explosion itself, the scattered pieces of the pteranodons’ bodies still fell to the ground. Those explosions had quite the power too; if a Frame Gear got too close, just a single pteranodon would be enough to completely destroy it.

I can’t let them get close. We have to take them all down.

“Gwargh!”

A sudden barrage of crystal rounds were shot from behind me. It seemed Leen’s Grimgerde had recovered from its first Full Burst usage.

“Darling, leave this area to us and go to the tower,” she said. It was true that I didn’t particularly want to waste time here.

It wasn’t impossible for the Reginleif to fly. Like Leen said, I could just fly straight to the top of the tower, but…God Almighty had said once before that my family and I could only resist the power of erosion that Gould had access to because of the divinity in our bodies, which meant that didn’t apply to Frame Gears. Worst case, the Reginleif could get taken over. I’d rather that didn’t happen.

“Guess I’ve got no choice but to go on foot, huh?”

I jumped out of the cockpit and put Reginleif in [Storage]. At the same time, Kuon dashed up on Kohaku.

Huh? I thought he was with Yumina.

“Mother told me to accompany you in case a wicked devout was waiting there. I will join you.”

What kind of father am I if I’ve got both my wife and kid worrying about me…?

Actually, what kind of father was I to even be thinking that? It was normal for family to worry about each other. It was, right? This wasn’t a case of me being seen as unreliable, right? It was true that if the wicked devout were around, I wouldn’t be able to lay a hand on them, so…

Right, this fight should be left to the humans of this world to fight. I’m just their support. Kuon is also a human of this world, even if he’s from the future, so it’s fine.

My job right now was to support my son’s battle. The real star of the show here was him, not me.

“All right. Shall we go, then?” “Let’s.”

I cast [Levitation] on Kohaku and Kuon, then [Fly] on myself, and we set off into the sky.

◇◇◇

After levitating Kuon and Kohaku, I pulled them along with [Fly] and aimed for the top of the towering tree.

“There are some lizard guys comin’ in hot from the right, kiddo.”

At Silver’s warning, we both turned and saw mechimera pteranodons cawing as they flew toward us.

“Spiral forth, O Wind! Raging Sweeping Gale: [Cyclone Storm]!”

“Gyoooaaaaaaaaah!”

The wind blades I sent out tore the wings of several of the pteranodons to shreds, sending them plummeting to the ground. They would definitely die from the impact of the fall, but I didn’t want to cause everyone else trouble, so I cast [Fire Storm] to burn them to a crisp.

We’re in a hurry here. Don’t get in the way!

“Whoa! Not a single bit o’ mercy shown. Well, you are the kiddo’s papa…” “Isn’t defeating an enemy when you find them normal?” Kuon defended me against Silver’s remark. “Well, sure, but…”

I slowly pulled us higher and higher, eventually making it above the tower, at which point we were able to see the top of it sprawling below us.

“I wasn’t expecting this…” Kuon muttered. “Neither was I.”

There was a big ball of roots that were all crossing around one another. It almost looked like a massive tumbleweed—those things that blow across the wastelands in Westerns.

“It’s like they’ve encased themselves in a shell so no one can approach.”

Encased in a shell, huh? Kuon was probably right. It was a show of their resistance against anyone interfering with their plan.

“What shall we do?” he asked.

“For now, let’s try burning it, I guess. Come forth, Fire! Crimson Duet: [Fire Arrow]!”

I fired three arrows down at the gigantic tumbleweed. But even though the attacks landed, the roots didn’t catch fire.

Hang on, did it just convert my magic into mana and absorb it? Could it be that the tree itself is lowering the concentration of mana in the area and scaring the spirits away?

“Doesn’t seem possible,” I sighed.

“Well, I suppose if this was enough to set it on fire, the whole tower would be at risk.”

For now, I lowered us onto the rooftop. Seeing that the ground was made up of bundles of roots as well, I remained cautious; it was always possible they would suddenly shoot out to try to capture us.

The towering tumbleweed in front of us was even bigger than our castle in Brunhild.

Is this the wicked devout’s castle?

If burning it wasn’t possible, then what about chopping it down like a tree?

Deciding it was worth a shot, I pulled out a phrasium axe from [Storage] and tried chopping into the tumbleweed roots. Though it was pretty tough, it turned out I could cut through it after all.

“If magic doesn’t work, I guess we’ve just gotta cut it down the good old- fashioned way… Hmm?!”

Just as I was thinking about how tedious the process was going to be, I turned to Kuon and saw that he’d gotten off Kohaku and was now wielding a chainsaw sword.

Hey, wait! Is that one of those chainsaws Quun made for the Frame Gears for that fight against Yggdrasil?!

“Quun developed a smaller one and forced it on me with Frei. I thought it was just going to gather dust in my [Storage], but I’m glad it’s going to find some use.”

Kuon took his chainsaw sword—the chainblade, to be precise—and swung it around a little, easily ripping apart the tree roots to cut out a square-shaped opening.

That’s weird. It doesn’t cut like the chainsaws I’m used to.

“It’s open.” “Oh, uh, yeah…”

We entered through the square hole in the wall and discovered that the big root ball wasn’t actually stuffed with roots, but was instead hollowed out in a dome shape like an egg shell. I thought it would be dark inside, but it turned out that there were a bunch of round flowers scattered about the roots that were giving off a faint green glow. It was bright enough that I didn’t need to use [Light Orb].

The inside looked just like the footage Doc Babylon had shown us with the large pyramid altar in the center and the strange light above it.

Is that where Gould and the wicked devout are?

I was about to leap right over with [Fly], but the field of mana that surrounded my body was immediately sucked up by the roots below.

“It appears we can’t use magic inside this dome,” Kuon observed, rubbing his foot along the ground.

What is he…? Oh, is he testing it with [Slip]?

“What about your Magic Eyes?”

“I imagine any Magic Eyes that result in a direct effect on someone else, such as Compression or Immobilization, will have little effect. Eyes like Precognition that only affect me appear fine, though.”

Kuon’s eye changed color each time he blinked.

To test his hypothesis, I tried using [Boost] and [Accel], and sure enough, I could use any magic that worked on me directly. It was likely because they were magic that made use of the mana inside one’s body.

“I can activate and use them ever so slightly, but it’s only for a quick moment,” he continued. “I think I could still use [Slip] as well if I timed it right.”

“Though, regardless, flying over seems impossible.”

I looked up at the pyramid, which was still standing tall. They were kind enough to provide us with stairs, but I was afraid that there were traps installed. Maybe they would suddenly turn into a slope when we were halfway up…

Surely they wouldn’t, right?

I frowned at the stairs as they brought to mind an old comedy sketch I’d seen on the internet.

“Kohaku, can you make it up there?” I asked. “Of course, my liege.”

I sat myself down behind Kuon, then Kohaku burst off toward the pyramid.

Suddenly, the space in front of Kohaku distorted. Several mechimera dinosaurs came flying out, but this time, it wasn’t the T. rexes from outside— they were triceratops, the ones with the three big horns on their head.

“GROOOOOOAAAAAAR!”

“You fools.”

Kohaku raised her front legs, then slammed them down. The shock waves that blasted from those large claws easily cut the triceratops in half. The attack immediately stopped them in their tracks, their bodies spurting gushes of blood. Kohaku jumped over the pool of blood as if skipping over something dirty.

“Father, over there too.”

I looked in the direction Kuon indicated and saw another triceratops appearing from a distortion in space.

“I see they’re not gonna let us approach easily.”

More and more portals opened up around us, letting through more of the mechimera dinosaurs. Kohaku alone wouldn’t be enough to handle this.

Hmph. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, summon for a summon.

“Come! Sango, Kokuyou, Luli, Kougyoku!”

I clicked my fingers and my four summoned beasts arrived. “Oh, well, this is a surprise.”

“Oh my! Luli, darling, it looks like your family’s here for a big reunion!” “They are not Dragons, Kokuyou. Do not mock me!”

“My liege, your orders?”

The four divine beasts had appeared in their small forms before transforming into their bigger forms in a puff of smoke.

“Clean up these guys for me. There isn’t enough mana here for us to use long-range magic, so be careful.”

The moment I said that, Kokuyou shot out water blades from his mouth and Luli blew out a breath of fire, cutting up and roasting the triceratops.

Huh?

“We use our powers by converting the divinity inside our bodies, so it doesn’t matter if there’s no mana in the environment,” Kokuyou explained. “We are divine beasts contracted to a real god, you know?”

That made sense. Wait, but then, did that mean I could’ve used [Fly] if I’d just made use of my divinity?

“Is something wrong?” Kuon asked, turning to look at me. “No, nothing…”

I pretended I hadn’t come to any conclusions.

I never realized… This is so embarrassing… I hope my face isn’t turning red…

It would be embarrassing to suddenly fly now, so I decided to continue charging ahead on Kohaku.

“My liege, leave this area to us,” Luli said, interrupting my thoughts. “Y-Yeah, of course! Kohaku, let’s go!”

“Yes, my liege.”

I totally wasn’t trying to fool anyone. Definitely not. “How should we cook these menaces today?”

“I can cut them right up for you!” “Know your place, lizard-breath.”

“Let’s burn them to a crisp.”

Alongside those ever-reliable voices behind me, there was the sudden sound of Luli breathing fire and Kokuyou using his water cutter, followed up by the sounds of the triceratops letting out their last cries.

Rest in peace.

I hadn’t realized until now that since I had fully become a god, the beasts contracted to me would therefore become my wards and have their own powers greatly strengthened. As the summoned beasts went wild with their powered-up abilities behind us, Kohaku continued charging toward the pyramid. Once she reached the log-like stairs, she bounded up them toward the top.

It looked as if the light up there was steadily growing brighter.

Just what are they trying to do?

When we made it about halfway up the stairs, falcon and dog mechimera soldiers blocked our path.

“Get out of my way!” Kohaku roared, sending forth a shock wave that sent them flying. I shot at any that she failed to catch with Brunhild so that she could steadily continue her ascent.

When we finally made it to the top, we saw a large ring standing upright in the middle of a wide-open space. Instead of being empty, the ring was, for some reason, filled with darkness, and in the middle of that, a bright light was being emitted.

What even is that?

“Huh?!”

Kohaku suddenly jumped back. Only moments later, several golden feathers were piercing the ground where we had just stood. The feathers immediately burst like little balloons into some sort of paste, spreading out along the ground and melting the roots that it touched.

I know what these feathers are!

I looked up and saw that familiar silhouette floating in the air, backlit by the large glowing light in the center of the ring. A small gold body, two glowing red eyes, and its four golden wings spread out wide from the bag on its back. Gould was glaring contemptuously down at us from where he floated.

“I never imagined you would make it this far. However, I will not let anyone

interfere with my plans. Parallel Shift.”

Gould appeared to blur slightly before splitting into two.

That’s…not Gold’s ability. If he made a clone of himself, then…it must be Noir’s crown skill!

Chronos Noir, the black crown, could call forth a version of itself from a parallel world and anchor it to this one. It allowed him to create a version of himself from a few seconds in the past or future. Naturally, like the other crown skills, it came with a great price: Their master had to sacrifice their lived time, essentially reversing their growth. On paper, it sounded like something to be envious of, but it was much more terrifying than it sounded, able to turn the person back so far in age that they could become a fetus again.

Several feathers on Gould’s back turned gray before falling onto the ground below and disintegrating into dust. The many Orichalcum Slimes inside the feathers had paid the price for Gould.

“Gluttonic Feather.”

The two Goulds sent forth their gold feathers. “Dodge, Kohaku!”

“Yes, my liege!”

Those feathers had the ability to consume. They absorbed whatever they touched and turned it into their own power. If I hit it with my sword without thinking, my sword would be eaten whole.

Kohaku sped away from the incoming feathers as they pierced the roots below, dissolving them as they had before.

“Veraenderung: Axt.” “Veraenderung: Schwert.”

The right arms of the two Goulds bent like melted candy and morphed into weapons—one an axe, the other a sword.

I leaped off Kohaku and shot at the axe-wielding Gould to draw its attention, causing it to leap toward me just as I wanted it to. I took the attack from the axe with Brunhild in Blade Mode.

“Such futility. Feast, Gluttony.”

The axe suddenly wrapped around Brunhild like a tentacle.

He’s probably trying to erode my divinity like he did with Yakumo. “Sorry, but we’ve already devised a counter for this. Divine Providence!” “Gah!”

My body and Brunhild began glowing with a platinum light. The moment the light hit the tentacle, it whipped off my sword—the divinity I was encased in had a trait that allowed it to deflect my opponent’s divinity.

I’d only been told I couldn’t use my divinity against the wicked god, not the god of erosion; the wicked god’s power was born from the mortal realm, while the fallen god’s power was born from the divine realm, and that meant there was no harm in resisting the fallen god’s power with divinity. It couldn’t be allowed to exist in the mortal realm any longer.

But, uh…where did the wicked devout go? I thought they would be here…

“You meddling…! I should’ve eliminated you first after all!”

Gould landed on the ground and placed his hands on the roots near his feet. “Arboreus Arm!”

The roots wrapped around his hands, creating gigantic arms that contrasted with his tiny body.

The Gollem sent a massive punch barreling forward. Naturally, there was no way for me to block that with Brunhild, so I jumped to the side as it collided with the ground and completely eviscerated the roots that were there.

That was like a mini explosion…

Smoke drifted up from the destroyed roots and I suddenly realized that Gould’s tree arms were ablaze.

That fire and sheer power… Is that Rouge’s crown skill?! “I need just a little more time! I won’t let you interfere!” “Why are you so obsessed with this…?”

I readied Brunhild once more as I looked into those eyes, which were filled with madness.

◇◇◇

“Feast, Gluttony.”

“Hold yer little horsies there, robot boy! Second Seal Release!”

The moment Gould tried to erode Kuon’s sword, Silver knocked it back. The blade, now slightly glowing, was rejecting Gould’s tentacle, protecting Kuon like a barrier. Silver was serving the role of an amplifier to create the barrier from Kuon’s mana. Divine Neutralization prevented the power of erosion from activating, meaning Gould’s attack bounced right off.

“Get lost!” Kohaku roared, then released another shock wave that sent Gould flying, but the Gollem managed to right himself in the air. His red eyes were fixed on the silver sword that Kuon held.

“That sword… Are you Infinite?”

“Tickles me pink to know ya remembered a failure like me, sir. Should I say ‘it’s been a while,’ Master Creator?” Infinity Silver spat at Gould.

Silver had been a weapon Gollem with his own sense of self that was created by Chrom Ranchesse, but the scientist dropped the project halfway through.

Does he still hold a grudge because he was forged and then abandoned?

Kuon thought to himself.

“A failure? You are simply something I halted the development of. I don’t think of you as a failure. I do think you were a waste of time and resources, however.”

“Oh, you asshole! Ya haven’t learned how to not piss people off, that’s for sure! Kiddo! This guy hasn’t changed one bit! Go teach him a lesson!”

“Me? Well, I don’t mind, but…”

Kuon swung Silver down at Gould. Gould blocked it with his arm, which was now morphed into a sword.

The golden Gollem and the young boy clashed blades over and over. Gould had yet to realize that the boy’s right eye had begun to shine a red-gold.

Gould’s sword suddenly cracked. The moment came abruptly. “No!”

They were still in the middle of their clash. Even though he’d noticed that his sword was cracked, Gould couldn’t stop his next attack. The hit caused Gould’s sword to shatter in two.

Kuon had combined his Mystic Eye of Compression with Silver’s amplifying ability to destroy the sword. Gould had no choice but to dodge Kuon’s next attack.

“How d’ya like that, huh?! The kiddo’s sly Mystic Eye and me make fer the best duo!” Silver roared triumphantly.

“Excuse me? What did you just say?”

Kuon began to slap Silver with his sacred treasure. “Whoa! Th-That was just a figure of speech, ya get me?!”

A divinity-infused sacred treasure could cut even Silver into two. That thought alone was enough to make him tremble.

Each time their swords struck, Kuon had used his Mystic Eye. He was unable to use magic here—or more precisely, it immediately dissipated. That was why he only used it at the precise moments their swords collided. But even then, the effect was lessened, so that it required a lot of strikes before it finally broke Gould’s arm.

Gould stared at his shattered sword arm, but a new sword immediately slithered out from the space where it had broken.

“A Mystic Eye… An activation vessel that uses sight to cast magic. The effect is not that strong. It will pose no problem.”

“Tch, I think the guy’s regeneratin’ himself using purple’s skill… How unfair’s that? He gets to take all the good parts of us crowns.”

Fanatic Viola, the purple crown, had the ability to grant its master an immortal body and regenerative abilities, but the price in exchange for that was eroding the master’s mind, eventually leaving them a husk of who they were before.

Just as before, several gold feathers lost their color and fell from the support unit on Gould’s back, the Cherubim, and disintegrated. Yet more Slimes were sacrificed to pay the price.

“Do not get in my way, child with the Mystic Eye. Disappear, Photon Laser.”

Balls of light floated up around Gould, then turned into rays that shot at Kuon all at once.

“Sacred treasure equip,” Kuon muttered, the blade in his hand unraveling into threads and then rethreading into a large shield. It was a little larger than the one Steph used, easily blocking the lasers.

“How?!”

The sacred treasure had been forged in a way that it could change into any of the nine forms at a moment’s notice—no one form was specific to one child. It was simply that each child had a weapon that they were accustomed to and better at using.

“You certainly like acting all high-and-mighty, but shouldn’t a ghost of the past disappear already? I can even help.”

“You little brat!”

“Eyyy, you go, kiddo! I can never get enough of you tearin’ ’em apart like that! Did you hear him, old man? Disappear already!” Silver exclaimed, deciding to join Kuon in winding up the Gollem.

Kohaku couldn’t help but make the observation that Kuon likely inherited that part of himself from his father.

“Very well! In that case, I will no longer hold back!”

The four Cherubim wings on Gould’s back spread open wide as several rings of light appeared behind him. It looked as if the lights themselves were turning, letting off sparks.

“O-Oh, he’s, uh, pulled out somethin’ mighty concerning, kiddo… Do ya think it was a mistake for me to wind him up too?”

“It’ll be fine. We have our secret weapon, after all.” “We do?”

Kuon simply smiled at Silver’s confusion.

The rings of light rotated at high speeds like a rotary saw before flying toward Kuon, who was still on Kohaku’s back. “Tch!”

Kohaku managed to dodge the ring, but when it reached the roots below, the rotary halo cut right through it. That same halo made a large arc through the air and aimed at Kuon once more. Several rotary halos were flying at them from all directions now. Kohaku did her best to dodge what she could as Kuon deflected any she couldn’t with Silver.

“Kiddo, there’s no end to this!”

“I think we’ll have to find a way to get rid of them directly… Sacred treasure equip.”

Kuon returned Silver to his sheath and changed the shield into a different shape. What appeared in his hand next was a small harpbow.

Kuon pulled back one of the strings with his right hand, arrows of light lining up in front of him.

“And…fire.”

The arrows of light audibly whooshed through the air, flying toward the rotary halos. They homed in on the halos as if they were magnets, taking them down one by one.

Kohaku nodded proudly. “A wonderful display.”

“Wooohooo! Every shot’s a bull’s-eye!”

“So long as they are close enough, the arrows can automatically lock on to their targets. Plus…”

Kuon pulled back the string again and shot an arrow right at Gould, who was still floating in the air. Gould tried to deflect the arrow with his sword, but at the last minute, the arrow veered to the side and curved around to strike the Gollem in the side of his head.

“Gah!”

“…I can do fancy tricks like this.”

Having lost his balance, Gould began to fall. Kuon thought he was going to collide with the ground, but his body stopped at the last minute and began to float up again.

“I thought I could take him down by shattering the Q-Crystal in his head, but it appears that isn’t so simple. Was there not enough power behind it?”

“Hmm, I do think ya landed the shot, but it looked like it got absorbed. It probably felt more like you gave him a little knock on the head.”

Gould turned his red eyes on Kuon. It appeared Kuon wasn’t alone in thinking he felt anger being directed his way, since Kohaku immediately dropped into a defensive stance. Feeling something weird beneath her paws, Kohaku looked down and saw human clothes and accessories, along with two masks, dropped on the ground.

“Are these…?”

Kuon followed Kohaku’s gaze downward. “Those are the wicked devout’s…”

One of the sets belonged to the chakram-wielding wicked devout he’d fought in the Ark. The other belonged to the mace-wielding wicked devout that Frei had fought. But for their belongings to be abandoned here…

“Did you consume the wicked devout?” Kuon asked directly.

“I simply sacrificed some useless pawns. Inefficient factors will only mess up my plans, so having them around is a waste of time.”

“Ugh, that self-serving efficiency of yours is the same as always… You seriously make me sick.”

Even the scathing words from his own creation weren’t enough to get Gould

—Chrom Ranchesse—to react.

Kuon, meanwhile, was left thinking about the valuable questions, such as…

Can Gollems feel nauseous too?

That aside, he certainly felt his own anger at how simply Gould was able to treat his comrades like tools, even if those comrades were the wicked devout they were there to kill.

“I will sacrifice you all to the cause as well. Veraenderung: Lanze.”

Gould’s arm morphed into a lance that resembled an ice pick. Thinking he was going to charge into them, Kuon turned his harpbow back to a shield and raised it at the ready.

“Spatial Distortion.”

Gould held his left hand to the side and the space began to distort. Gould thrust his arm lance into that tiny space.

“Crap! Mr. Tiger! Jump forward!”

Heeding Silver’s call, Kohaku reflexively jumped forward. In the space where they’d just been, the tip of the gold lance was sticking out. If Kohaku had remained where she was, Kuon would undoubtedly have been skewered. Silver had been able to detect it so quickly specifically because he perceived his surroundings with a sensor rather than being able to see with a pair of eyes.

“Not bad, silver sword. I’m a little annoyed at you calling me that, but I’ll forgive you just this once.”

“Huh? Why would that make ya mad?”

“Kohaku’s a girl, you know?” Kuon clarified. “Of course she wouldn’t want you to call her that.”

“No way!”

While Silver was busy being surprised by Kohaku’s gender, Kuon realized that the attack just now had been a teleportation attack using Spatial Distortion; it was a tactic that Yakumo frequently used. The fact that the attack completely ignored the concept of distance made it hard to dodge, even with the Mystic Eye of Precognition.

His Mystic Eye worked specifically by predicting where the attack would come from next, therefore letting him dodge. For example, even if someone was going to try to punch him from the front, if he knew that a left hook was going to come his way, he could dodge or block. On the other hand, even if he could predict that a body tackle was suddenly about to come at him from close range, it would be difficult to do anything about it.

“You dodged that, did you? Then how about this?”

The single distortion in space turned into several that were surrounding Kuon. The next moment, Gould leaped through one of the portals, lance aimed forward.

“Ngh!”

Kuon held up his shield and blocked Gould’s attack. Gould then dove into the portal opposite Kuon before immediately reappearing from a different one. This time, Kohaku dodged to the side, but then Gould moved to yet another portal.

“The slimeball! He’s just gonna keep jumpin’ around like this, ain’t he?!” “Being able to see the distortions is at least better than suddenly being

attacked from a blind spot, but it’s still not great,” Kuon muttered.

“There is no way to determine where it will come from next!” Kohaku growled.

As Kuon continued blocking the attacks with his shield, he realized it reminded him of the “whack-a-mole” game that his father had created. He had to predict where the attack would come from in order to block it, but this was more like moving to block after the opponent made their move. He was stuck doing nothing but remaining on the defensive. While the enemy had the initiative, Kuon would steadily tire and eventually have his defenses broken entirely.

“I dunno if we’ve got any other choice other than to make a bet on which is the right hole and try ta counter, kiddo! I could maybe get the rough direc—”

The moment Silver tried to make his suggestion, golden feathers shot out from several of the portals. While Divinity Neutralization was active, the power of the god of erosion would be ineffective, but the Gluttony Slimes could still consume. If Gould managed to absorb the divinity of the sacred treasure, he would grow even more powerful—Kuon absolutely could not block them with his shield. Instead, he struck them down with Silver. If he used his Mystic Eye of Precognition, he could do at least that much, but Gould took that moment to try to thrust with his lance again.

“Gah!”

Kuon bent backward to dodge the strike, then aimed Silver at Gould, who was flying in front of them. But the tip of the sword just missed as Gould disappeared into the portal again.

“Dammit! If the guy can fire his feathers at the same time, there’s no way fer me to distinguish which is him!”

Since they would appear at roughly the same time, Silver’s sensor was useless in determining which were the feathers and which was Gould. Their reaction time was too slow if they waited until Gould had fully reappeared.

Kohaku tried to dash away from the area, but it appeared the distortions were centered around Kuon as they followed them even as they moved.

“If that won’t work, then…!”

The moment Gould leaped through a distortion again, Kohaku jumped upward. Kohaku dodged the feathers and Gould’s spear thrust, bringing up the portals with her in an attempt to stop consecutive attacks.

“Spatial Distortion.”

However, Gould showed no signs of panic as he held his left hand out in front of him and created another portal to jump through.

“Oh no!”

Kohaku immediately realized she had no way to dodge the attack while suspended in the air. In hopes of protecting at least Kuon, she maneuvered her body to take the spear thrust.

“Glasses are the best,” Kuon suddenly said. “What?!”

Gould’s lance was aimed right for Kohaku’s flank, but before it could reach its target, Gould paused as if time itself had stopped.

“Grah!”

“I see. It certainly is more powerful now.”

No longer able to move, Gould could only watch as Kuon leaped from Kohaku’s back and swung down the sacred treasure in its sword form. The sword was brought down straight on the Cherubim, sending Gould headfirst into the ground.

“Gah…! What was that?!”

Kuon landed softly on the ground in front of Gould’s splayed-out body. One of his eyes had turned yellow-gold—the color of the Mystic Eye of Immobilization—and he now wore a pair of round glasses.

“Kiddo, what are these?”

“It’s a secret weapon I acquired from the god of glasses.” “Th-The god of…glasses?”

The pair of glasses Kuon was wearing were gifted to him by the god of glasses, Glassie, when he visited the castle the other day. He’d gifted both the grand duchesses and their children their own special pairs. His actual reason for doing it was to try to turn them all into glasses lovers, but that didn’t matter right now.

The glasses that Kuon had received were ones that could strengthen his Mystic Eyes. They were a really unique piece of craftsmanship, able to work even in an area like this with such little mana in the environment. Kuon hadn’t used them straightaway because the glasses had several restrictions. One was that it consumed more energy to use his Mystic Eyes than usual, while the other was that he needed to say a specific phrase to activate them.

“I told him he could choose whatever phrase he liked, and he went for ‘Glasses are the best’…”

“Oof… Yeah, I get why you wouldn’t wanna use ’em now…”

Also, for some ridiculous reason, the effectiveness of the glasses depended on how enthusiastic the user recited the catchphrase. Kuon wasn’t sure how true it was, but apparently, shouting as loud as one could had more of an effect than muttering it. For a boy who honestly couldn’t care less about glasses, having to scream, “Glasses are the best!” at the top of his lungs was an incredibly embarrassing thought. His parents would think there was something wrong with him.

He’d intended to leave them sealed away forever in [Storage], but as today had shown, he really couldn’t tell what would come in handy.

The effects of the Mystic Eye of Immobilization wore off. Now that Gould could move, he leaped back away from Kuon.

“Was that the power of your Mystic Eye? What did you do?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know? Unfortunately, I’m not so stupid as to reveal my secrets to the enemy.”

Kuon observed Gould as he spoke. Although Gould had immediately regenerated his arm when it had been cut off, the dent in the Cherubim hadn’t returned to normal after Kuon’s attack, which implied the regenerative abilities didn’t extend to the Cherubim.

“Found our target, at least,” Kuon muttered. “Time to strip off his frilly parts first, eh?”

The portals that had been opened around Kuon had disappeared. Gould lifted his arm to use Spatial Distortion once more.

“Glasses are the best.”

However, before Gould could fully open the portal, Kuon spoke those words and the distortion dispelled like smoke, returning the space to normal.

“Nrgh!”

“Wow, so even Negation is strengthened. I knew Gould could use the crown skills with just the smallest bit of mana, so I didn’t think I’d be able to completely prevent it.”

“What in the world did you do?!” Gould roared, appearing shocked with eyes wide. Crowns were more expressive than regular Gollems, but Kuon couldn’t help but be surprised at how even something as stone-faced—or metal-faced—as Gould could have emotional outbursts like that.

“The catchphrase may be lame as all hell, but it sure does a pretty good job!

Glasses really are the best, yahoo!” Silver cheered.

“Are you mocking me? If you are, I will not hesitate to permanently meld glasses to your body.”

“Deepest apologies… Got a bit too overexcited there…”

Silver’s enthusiasm immediately dispersed under Kuon’s dark smile. The eyes underneath those lenses were not laughing. Silver had learned long ago that Kuon was not to be messed with when he looked like that.

Kuon decided that the next time he saw the god of glasses, he was going to immediately ask to have the catchphrase changed. Gould, meanwhile, had readied his spear once again and was launching through the air. At that distance, it was easy for Kuon to predict his movements with the Mystic Eye of Precognition. Kuon deftly dodged to the side, targeting the Gollem’s back the second he flew past.

“Glasses are the best.”

“Let’s goooooo! First Seal Release!”

Kuon’s eye began to shine a red-gold. Staring right at the Cherubim, he activated the Mystic Eye of Compression. Silver shone a dazzling white as he amplified the power of the Mystic Eye several times over.

The Cherubim shattered with a deafening crash, sending Gould flying forward. Left without his flight device, the gold Gollem could only roll along the ground. The feathers of the destroyed Cherubim glittered in the air as they scattered.

“Impossible! You destroyed the Cherubim?!”

“Kiddo, somethin’ about the wings ain’t lookin’ right. Are they…?”

As Silver had said, the shattered Cherubim parts were slowly melting into a gelatinous substance. They were losing their golden sheen, turning into red- brown Slimes instead.

“I assume those are the main bodies,” Kuon surmised. “Eww, that’s so gross.”

The Cherubim was both a magic tool and Gollem made from Gluttony Slimes and Orichalcum Slimes. Now that the core that had been maintaining their shape was destroyed, the Slimes were unable to remain in that form. The scattered feathers turned into small wiggling Slimes, but eventually, their movements slowed and smoke began to rise from their bodies as they melted away.

“The little buddies up and vanished…”

“They probably can’t continue living as Slimes because their cores are gone.

Gould over there most likely found them much more useful without a will.”

Kuon looked over at the Gollem, which was still collapsed on the ground. If his only goal for the Slimes was to control them to use their properties, then they didn’t need their own sense of self. The Slimes were practically already dead.

Now that they had left Gould’s possession, they’d returned to their original forms.

The Cherubim itself was also turning back into Slime. It’ll probably disappear too if we just leave it alone. “He shouldn’t be able to use his crown skills anymore.”

“Just a little more… Just a little more and I can connect it…! I won’t let you interfere…! Reverse!”

Contrary to Kuon’s expectations, Gould activated a crown skill. The Cherubim was nothing more than additional support. If he didn’t care about the damage to his body, Gould could use the crown skills just fine.

Kuon quickly tried to activate his Mystic Eye of Negation, but he was too late. Even if he was able to slightly activate it, Reverse would automatically return affected objects back to their designated time.

Gold had stated that the gold crown had no crown skill—and right enough, there was no gold crown skill. But that was because the gold crown was made to contain all the crown skills except Silver’s. It was a double-edged sword that required a great price from not just the master, but also the gold crown itself.

That was why the gold crown had a limiter attached that usually prevented it from using any crown skills. The only one who could release that limiter was Chrom Ranchesse, the High Master and creator himself. Given that Gould had Ranchesse’s memories, it was only natural that he’d removed his limiter.

Having used Reverse, parts of Gould’s body were already starting to disintegrate, but the half-melted Cherubim slowly reverted back to its old form in return. The Cherubim, now having regained part of its old appearance, floated into the air and docked on Gould’s back again. However, the wings no longer had most of their feathers and were still largely destroyed.

“Seems he can’t bring those feathers back once they’re gone,” Silver pointed out.

“If he could, he’d have been able to use his abilities infinitely. I’m not surprised it’s impossible.”

Both Gould and the Cherubim were falling apart, but his eyes were still alight with determination. Kuon could easily tell he had no intention of giving up.

“What are you trying to do that would motivate you to go so far? Is it the revival of the wicked god after all?” Kuon tried to ask.

“I could not care less about the wicked god! I’m here to retrieve what I have lost! I’ll sacrifice anything I must! Veraenderung: Axt!” Gould’s arm transformed into a large axe. He didn’t hesitate to immediately activate the black crown skill: “Clockup!”

“Glasses are the best.”

Gould leaped at Kuon so fast that it looked like he’d teleported. Yet, having managed to predict what would happen, Kuon was able to dodge at the last second, his eye an orange-gold. While Gould was stuck finishing the swinging of his axe, Kuon took the opportunity to aim the sacred treasure, which was suddenly in the form of a gun, at Gould’s temple.

“No matter the reason, sacrificing others is never okay.”

Kuon pulled the trigger. He focused the power of Compression on the Gollem’s temple, the bullet from the sacred treasure ripping through it. Unlike the failed attempt with the arrow, the bullet managed to pierce the Q-Crystal before exiting through the other side of Gould’s head and embedding into the ground.

“Gah… Guh…?!”

With the Q-Crystal shattered, the regenerative abilities of the purple crown and the time manipulation of the black crown did nothing to help. All Gould knew was that at that moment, his hopes had been crushed. In his fading consciousness, Gould entrusted his hope to the remaining self that he could see out of the corner of his vision.

If he could, just one more time… “E…dda… Ryuu…ri…”

Gould stretched his hand forward. Eventually, he lost all his remaining strength and the arm fell to the ground as his body disintegrated into dust.

“He just disappeared,” Silver muttered.

“It appears this was only the double he created with Noir’s ability. We need to assist fath…”

When Kuon tried to turn around, he suddenly swayed and fell to his knees. “Kiddo?!”

“Young Master?!”

Kohaku dashed up to support Kuon’s body. The boy was breathing painfully as he leaned against her.

“I should’ve…guessed that using strengthened Mystic Eyes so many times in a row…would take an even greater toll on my body…”

“Please rest,” Kohaku insisted. “Your father will manage.” “You’re right…”

Reassured by Kohaku’s words, Kuon let his consciousness go. His gun fell from his hand and returned to its form as a platinum sphere, circling Kuon as if trying to protect him.

Kohaku maneuvered Kuon onto her back and walked away to avoid interfering with her master’s battle. Silver, having also fallen out of Kuon’s grip, floated along beside them.

“My liege… It’s all down to you now.”

After taking one last look back at Touya fighting the other Gould, Kohaku left the scene.