Chapter 1: Those Who Take Back

Chapter 1: Those Who Take Back

Those Who Take Back

The rainwater pooled atop this vast white land, becoming a mirror.

There were no obstacles on the perfectly smooth surface to obstruct one’s view. The cerulean sky shone clear on the water, clouds drifting across the endless reflection. Looking at the mirrored image of land and sky destroyed all sense of distance, creating the illusion that the figures standing in its center were locked away in a beautiful globe.

Amid this beautiful scene, Menou focused on the person standing before her.

The tall woman wore priestess robes the same color as Menou’s and had a strangely sinister air. Her dark-red hair was cut short. This was none other than the woman who raised Menou to be a killer. This was the legendary Executioner, Master Flare.

Her crimson locks contrasted harshly against the shades of blue and white surrounding the two. The scripture in her left hand glowed with Guiding Light, but she didn’t attempt a scripture conjuring. The sharp edge of the dagger in her right hand was pointed directly at Menou.

Menou stood on guard with her own dagger at the ready. Her still-active Guiding Thread fluttered in the wind, as did her faintly chestnut-colored hair, held in a ponytail by a black ribbon.

In this illusory world, the tension between them was all but visible.

A lone spectator watched teacher and student square off: a girl in elegant attire.

It was Akari Tokitou, an Otherworlder from Japan.

This battle that had started in the holy land and moved to the land of salt was centered on her and the powerful conjuring known as a Pure Concept within her.

Would Menou and Akari find a way to keep living, or would they die to Master Flare?

This battle would decide their fate.

Not long before the duel began, the current Menou and Akari had let each other into their hearts and minds.

A Guiding Force link between human souls was a rare thing. Menou’s highly unusual nature and the deep level of trust between the two girls forged a deep connection so strong they could sense the other’s feelings and experience the other’s memories.

This Guiding Force unification, which only Menou and Akari could achieve, essentially turned them into a single being.

Akari now existed within Menou, and Menou’s consciousness lived within Akari as well.

Akari’s feelings had spread to Menou through their link, giving her the necessary push. It burned like a flame in her heart. These uncharacteristically heated emotions could only be Akari’s passionate feelings for Menou. The power that flowed from Akari into Menou became a guide that drove her to fight.

Slowly, silently, she drew closer.

Master Flare was at an overwhelming disadvantage under the present circumstances. The Guiding Force Akari provided to Menou made her one of the most powerful beings in the world. Menou was already among the Faust’s best at manipulating Guiding Force, and now she had the incredible reserves of an Otherworlder at her disposal.

Master Flare was surely aware of this, yet the woman known as a living legend showed no signs of distress.

One wrong action could upset the balance.

The air vibrated with tension as the pair drew near one another. Their movements were almost impossible to follow, not because they were too fast, but because they were too slow. The distance shrank leisurely, so much so that it was difficult to notice. It nearly seemed that Menou and Master Flare were testing each other’s patience.

Water rippled faintly at their feet. Concentric circles spread around them, touching the tips of their toes and pulling away.

They ventured closer far slower than the ripples on the water.

Finally, the tips of their daggers met.

“…!”

The tension in the air ruptured.

Both women acted simultaneously—each one’s finely honed blade aimed for the arteries on the other’s wrist. In perfect symmetry, their hands collided, snaked back, then went for the next attack without hesitation.

In the blink of an eye, their blades met more than ten times. Neither Menou nor her master dared take a step nearer. There was no fancy footwork; only the arms wielding the daggers moved. The rest of their bodies were unnaturally still. A single misstep meant a slashed wrist, which kept them rooted.

It was Menou who made the next ploy. With a flick of her wrist, she threw her blade from a nearly point-blank distance.

Her target was her opponent’s torso. She gripped the crest conjuring Guiding Thread as she threw the dagger, not aiming for any particular vital points, just hoping to score a hit.

Master Flare didn’t budge, simply using the cover of the scripture in her left hand to repel the incoming blade. Menou had now lost her weapon. The careless attack should have cost her dearly, yet her master didn’t retaliate.

In fact, she did quite the opposite.

Master Flare jumped aside.

Guiding Force: Connect (via Guiding Thread)—Dagger, Crest—Invoke [Gale]

Menou’s Guiding Force traveled down the thread she’d created earlier and activated the Gale crest conjuring. The surge of wind that erupted from the dagger’s hilt blew it upward right before it hit the ground.

If Master Flare hadn’t moved, the rising weapon would have stuck into her throat. And the dagger didn’t stop after one movement.

The weapon danced through the air for a follow-up attack, employing the power of the summoned wind. Menou used the Guiding Thread and Gale to manipulate the dagger from a distance. It was an incredible feat of precise Guiding Force manipulation.

This was the same masterful technique that had amazed Ashuna Grisarika, the mighty Princess Knight, back in Libelle. However, Master Flare didn’t even twitch an eyebrow, suggesting she’d expected as much from Menou. She dodged with an easy sidestep. Her confident balance made it look like she was skating on ice instead of standing in water.

The dagger changed its trajectory twice, then three times, finally attacking from an overhead blind spot on its fourth movement. Master Flare repelled it easily with a strike from her own blade.

Menou pulled on the Guiding Force thread to retrieve her weapon.

In the last exchange of blows, Menou’s master hadn’t given the girl a single opening, even as she fended off attacks from every angle. Master Flare had her arm raised now, appearing tantalizingly vulnerable, but Menou knew better than to take the bait.

Guiding Force: Connect—Dagger, Crest—Invoke [Thunderclap]

A simple yet perfectly timed crest conjuring stopped Menou from stepping any nearer.

Lightning shot from Flare’s dagger and struck the water’s surface, sending up a misty spray.

Menou flinched, and that was all Master Flare needed. She sped forward in the span of a breath.

A splash of water, and the two were within arm’s reach of each other again.

Flare stabbed at Menou’s vitals, then swept her leg. Menou blocked with her boot to avoid losing her balance, then counterattacked with her other leg, striking at her former master’s head. Where before they engaged in a motionless battle of blades, now both used their entire bodies in a martial arts showdown. It was similar to a close-range boxing match. Their blades and limbs clashed at remarkable speed, all as Menou slowly ramped up her Guiding Force output.

Her soul pulsed steadily as Akari’s Guiding Force flowed into her through their connection. With her strength invigorated by this power, her steps kicked up water.

Even as the impact of her strikes increased, Menou’s moves lost none of their finesse, and her body adapted to Akari’s Guiding Force expertly. The Guiding Enhancement that raised her physical abilities was reaching a level she’d never experienced.

Menou’s base Guiding Force level was average compared to other priestesses. As an Executioner who staked her life in battle, she was considered talentless when it came to Guiding Force capacity.

But now that weakness was gone.

Master Flare’s eyes focused on Menou.

There was no distress in her gaze. She was utterly calm, despite dealing with an opponent whose Guiding Enhancement outmatched her own. Did she have some plan? Menou shook off this doubt as she fought. This was Master Flare. Of course she had a plan. Menou had long since cast off the kind of naïveté that would allow her to suspect otherwise. Master Flare had battled opponents far stronger and won countless times.

Menou knew how dangerous this woman was as an enemy.

Even so, she was going to surpass that legend.

Menou slashed.

Her powerful strike knocked Master Flare’s dagger into the air with a clang . After failing to block the hit completely, Master Flare lost her weapon and balance.

An opening.

The sight of her seemingly defenseless master conjured a memory.

A similar situation had occurred during their previous engagement in the holy land’s cathedral.

“Hey, thanks for not killing me.”

Menou had the perfect opening to kill Master Flare, and she’d let it slip. She couldn’t bring herself to drive her dagger into her master’s throat.

Master Flare was special to Menou, more than anyone else.

But now Akari was behind her.

She didn’t hesitate. Accepting her master’s taunt as it surfaced in her mind, Menou thrust her weapon straight and true.

Guiding Force: Connect—Priestess Robe, Crest—Invoke [Barrier]

Master Flare’s invocation blocked the attack that would otherwise have pierced her throat.

A crack formed in the barrier where it met Menou’s dagger. Menou focused hard on the fissures and what lay beyond.

In the narrow opening, she could see Master Flare laughing with her mouth open wide.

“Hff!”

One breath.

As Menou let out a determined hiss, her blade pushed deeper into the barrier. Her determination became deadly intention, driving the weapon for her master’s neck.

This time, however, there was a reaction.

Something struck Menou’s arm from below. Master Flare’s foot collided with her student’s limb, knocking it away.

Now it was Menou who was off-balance. And at that precise moment, Master Flare’s dagger fell, and the woman snatched it and imbued the crest with Guiding Light.

Guiding Force: Connect—Dagger, Crest—Invoke [Thunderclap]

Now.

On Menou’s signal, a conjuring occurred some distance away from the fight.

Guiding Force: Connect—Improper Attachment, Pure Concept [Time]—Invoke [Suspension]

Akari hadn’t shown any signs of joining the battle, but now she fired a Pure Concept conjuring from her fingertip.

Menou hadn’t left Akari to observe. She’d ensured the other girl was far enough to be free of the cross fire, yet still close enough that her conjurings were within range.

Akari couldn’t move like Menou, even now that she shared Menou’s memories through their Guiding Force connection. Naturally, Menou’s fighting style was optimized for her use. If Akari tried to mimic the movements without a weapon, it was bound to fail in all sorts of ways. And it was beyond terrifying to test her close-combat skills in a real battle against someone as powerful as Master Flare.

So instead, Menou had deployed Akari as a sort of long-distance conjuring cannon.

Master Flare was rooted in place with her leg raised… But the Suspension from Akari’s finger gun wasn’t aimed at her. Even in a moment of apparent vulnerability, Flare might still evade.

Instead, the Suspension conjuring hit the surface of the rainwater that turned the land of salt into a mirror.

Time froze for the water’s surface. Any shoes soaked in it also stopped, creating a powerful bond holding anyone caught.

This wasn’t Akari’s idea. Menou sent her the plan through their Guiding Force connection. Sharing intentions without needing to vocalize them was incredibly useful for coordinated attacks. Akari was an inexperienced combatant, and she would never have been able to intervene in this high-level battle with its constantly evolving strategies. She could only pull off such precise support because she sensed Menou’s ideas as if they were her own.

With one leg raised in the air and the other supporting her weight, Master Flare should have been unable to escape.

“Hrm.”

This single syllable from Akari was enough to communicate frustration and disappointment to Menou.

Master Flare’s planted foot wasn’t snared in the Suspension -locked water. The exact moment Akari’s conjuring hit, the water on her boot evaporated.

The Thunderclap Master Flare invoked before Akari’s Suspension wasn’t aimed at Menou, but at her own feet.

Such a thing would’ve been impossible if she hadn’t predicted Akari and Menou’s team attack with perfect accuracy.

Menou had earned the nickname Flarette in her clandestine work as an Executioner for a good reason: Her fighting style was modeled after her master’s. Thus, Flare easily saw through her pupil’s strategies and reacted accordingly.

The wasted Suspension dispelled, allowing the water’s surface to return to normal time. One plan had now ended in failure. Although Akari was aggravated, Menou didn’t let it discourage her. She put some distance between herself and her master, then let out a quiet exhale.

In this battle, the situation changed drastically from one moment to the next. Yet Menou didn’t feel half bad locked in this dizzyingly tense whirlwind.

Against all odds, her sharpened mind and the excitement of the battle formed a miraculously balanced combination. On this battlefield, she thought only of Master Flare. Menou and her precious Akari were focused on taking Master Flare down by any means necessary; they felt no hesitation.

It was strange.

Whenever Menou’s blade clashed with her teacher’s, her sense of self was carved into sharper relief.

This fight was Menou’s first step toward changing the world.

It was a necessary trial for the two of them to continue walking together. By defeating this person, Menou would seize something she needed to forge a path ahead with Akari.

Sensing Menou’s strong will also brought out more motivation in Akari. Menou smiled when she sensed Akari’s earnest response.

There was only one issue. Menou still couldn’t shake off Master Flare’s Guiding Enhancement.

At this point, Menou was maintaining a level of Guiding Enhancement on par with Momo’s. That ought to have been more than Master Flare could handle in head-on close combat, especially considering she was at a disadvantage.

Yet somehow, Master Flare kept pace.

Her base Guiding Force capacity wasn’t much different from Menou’s. She should be outmatched now. There had to be a trick to it. At the very least, this wasn’t Master Flare’s Guiding Force alone.

Menou focused on determining what was increasing her master’s Guiding Force.

Master Flare had the same equipment she always did. A dagger with the guiding branch and thunderclap crests, priestess robes with the barrier crest, and a scripture in her left hand. The jewel on her forehead was a Guiding vessel, too, but Menou knew its effect, and it couldn’t bolster one’s Guiding Force.

Guiding Force: Connect—Dagger, Crest—Invoke [Guiding Branch]

Master Flare wordlessly invoked a crest conjuring.

Branches grew out of her dagger into a single large tree. It was big enough to conceal Master Flare behind its trunk. Menou braced herself for a large-scale ceremonial conjuring using the Guiding Branch, but that wasn’t what happened.

With a loud crack, the shining tree collapsed. It struck the ground hard enough to cause faint tremors, but Master Flare vanished.

“Wah!”

Menou caught Akari’s exclamation and felt the same frustration, although she didn’t voice it.

Guiding Camouflage.

It was a highly advanced use of Guiding Enhancement that changed the color of the Guiding Light around the user’s body to disguise them. Master Flare had disappeared by blending flawlessly into the scenery.

The moment she vanished, all sense of her presence was cut off, too. Neither Menou nor Akari could tell where Master Flare was.

Master Flare couldn’t teleport instantly like Akari. She had to be somewhere nearby. Knowing that she was that close made not being able to see her that much more unsettling, however.

Master Flare hadn’t become a legend as a warrior.

At her core, she was an assassin.

She didn’t need to fight head-on, crossing blades and trading conjurings. All she had to do was invisibly stab someone through the heart from behind, and they would die. Hostages, surprise attacks, foul play—no matter how cowardly the method, Master Flare employed it to slay countless people. Being forced to face Menou head-on couldn’t have been an ideal scenario.

So the moment Menou grew suspicious of Flare’s Guiding Force amount and went on the defensive to try to observe her, Master Flare altered her strategy. Undoubtedly, she’d intended to seize the advantage if Menou underestimated her capacity without noticing the change.

Menou focused her senses. Guiding Camouflage disguised the user’s appearance, but their mass still existed. She hoped to see ripples in the water that would betray her opponent’s steps, but there was no unnatural movement on the liquid’s surface. No matter how intensely she concentrated, listening for any faint sound and scanning for any irregularities, Menou failed to locate her teacher.

“……”

The battle was at a standstill.

Time ticked away, slow but steady.

Anxiety gathered in Menou’s chest.

Should she use a scripture conjuring to take control of the area? If she drew upon Akari’s Guiding Force, it would be strong enough to prevent any escape. It would definitely be effective against an invisible opponent.

Like her master, Menou tended toward backhanded strategies meant to outwit. And with a vast supply of power at her disposal, thanks to Akari, she wasn’t overly concerned about forcing a face-to-face confrontation. In point of fact, Menou’s best hope of winning was through brute force.

But what if Master Flare struck while Menou was focused on the scripture conjuring? Menou was confident that she could sense an attack before it landed, but what about Akari? If Master Flare went after Akari while Menou concentrated on the conjuring, there’d be nothing she could do. Akari was still Akari, even if she shared Menou’s experiences through their Guiding Force connection.

There was no way of knowing who Master Flare would target. However, Akari wouldn’t die. She would always revive with Regression …right? How could they be sure Master Flare didn’t have some other weapon to replace the Sword of Salt that could overcome her immortality? The thought was too terrifying to test. Menou was unwilling to gamble on whether Master Flare stabbing Akari would kill her.

“…”

The silence continued. A bead of sweat dripped down Menou’s forehead and fell.

Plip. The droplet sent a ripple across the water.

Menou was worried for Akari and herself.

Were she fighting alone, this likely would have led to a war of attrition, but there was another here to see things differently.

“Menou, you’re overthinking it!”

Guiding Force: Connect—Improper Attachment, Pure Concept [Time]—Invoke [Fracture]

Guiding Light glowed around Akari’s fingertip as she drew a circle in the air.

The attack radiated out in all directions, and the air behind Menou wavered.

Master Flare, who’d been using Guiding Camouflage on herself and the Guiding Branch she was standing on and extending, was forced to move to avoid Akari’s conjuring.

Menou dived forward without even taking the time to turn around. Master Flare’s blade grazed her cheek. She’d gone after her pupil. Menou threw out a kick on gut instinct, still not looking back in the direction of her former teacher.

Luckily, the lack of force behind the blow made it harder for Master Flare to handle. The toe of Menou’s boot just barely touched Master Flare, but that was enough to send Guiding Force toward the point of contact.

Guiding Force: Connect—

This wasn’t Guiding Force manipulation to invoke a conjuring. Menou channeled her Guiding Force into Master Flare’s body at the point where they met to invade the woman’s spirit. This was the same technique she’d used on the red conjured soldier in Grisarika, although it was a far cry from the mutual Guiding Force connection she shared with Akari.

For the first time, Master Flare’s expression changed to one of obvious irritation. A surge of rejection rose to drive Menou’s consciousness back.

Each human’s inner power naturally opposed all others. Unless one accepted the influx, as Akari had, an invader couldn’t meddle for long. And that was true even for Menou, who possessed unique properties. The time was even shorter if the target pushed the invader out, as Master Flare was doing.

Menou only needed a second, though. Her goal was to discover the source of Master Flare’s bolstered Guiding Force.

The earthen vein had wholly dried up here since the land had turned to salt. There was no route to connect to the heavenly vein that flowed in the atmosphere, either. This left no outside means of acquiring more Guiding Force, with Menou’s connection to Akari being a special exception. Menou attempted to use the fleeting seconds of the Guiding Force connection to clear up this mystery.

“…The scripture?”

“Tsk!”

Master Flare clicked her tongue in annoyance at Menou’s muttered realization.

The scripture in Master Flare’s left hand supplied her with unusual levels of Guiding Force. It wasn’t as much as Menou received from Akari, but it was significant nonetheless.

However, as far as Menou knew, the Faust’s scriptures had no ability to produce Guiding Force. In fact, there were virtually no objects that could achieve that feat.

With a few rare exceptions, Guiding Force was a power produced from the soul of a living thing.

Paradoxically, this meant that if a soul dwelled within an object, it could theoretically become a tool to produce Guiding Force.

“A Guiding Force life-form…created from a human.”

There was disgust in Menou’s voice as she named the phenomenon in Master Flare’s scripture. Her old master had likely deliberately done what Menou achieved accidentally with Sahara. On top of that, the soul trapped in Flare’s scripture had to be that of an Otherworlder. Its Guiding Force far exceeded an ordinary human’s.

Master Flare didn’t confirm or deny it. But the brief Guiding Force connection had made it plain to Menou.

The greatest taboo hunter in history, the legendary Executioner known as Flare.

Perhaps it was what remained of Menou’s conscience as a priestess that made her question why someone who had destroyed more taboos than anyone else would do such a thing. The forbidden nature of taboos was drilled deep into her during the many years at the monastery.

Menou was hardly able to speak on the matter now, though.

Master Flare undoubtedly knew Menou’s thoughts, for she didn’t display any alarm. The woman silently leveled her dagger at Menou, hand completely steady.

Menou pushed down the urge to criticize herself. This was no time to wallow in sentiment.

“Master. What exactly do you have sealed in that scripture?”

“Tsk. I guess the game is up.”

Master Flare didn’t respond directly. After muttering a foul word, she touched the gem on her forehead.

Guiding Force: Connect—Emerald, Crest—Invoke [Conditional Activation]

Conditional Activation was a technique that could be carved into a conjuring tool to trigger automatically under specific circumstances.

What conditions had Master Flare set, and in what Guiding vessel?

“Menou. Do you remember what you two used to get here?”

Cautiously, Menou answered the sudden question. “…The Dragon Gate.”

The land of salt, once an enormous continent, was far across the ocean from where Menou and the others lived.

They had crossed this great distance using an apparatus called the Dragon Gate, which was hidden in the heart of the holy land. The device was a surviving relic from an ancient era when humanity thrived. It used a train-station-like facility to create a passage that transported passengers across incredible distances.

“Right.” Master Flare nodded coolly. “So what might happen if a Guiding explosive with a Conditional Activation were embedded beneath the teleport gate connected to this place?”

Akari’s face froze in horror. Menou’s expression didn’t waver, but she felt the same way.

A Guiding explosive.

Similar to a Guiding gun, it was a weapon that could be used without any understanding of Guiding Force.

Destroying the teleportation gate, the product of a complex ceremonial conjuring, would be simple. But since it would leave Master Flare stranded here, too, Menou had unconsciously excluded it from the list of possible tactics.

Master Flare had unceremoniously crushed that misstep.

“The conditions are simple. It’ll explode in ten minutes.”

If that happened, all three of them would be stranded on this island in the far reaches of the sea.

There was nothing here but water and salt.

Master Flare sneered. “How about it, Menou? Want to show off the results of that training you did all those years ago?”

“Ah, right. I do remember living off nothing but water and salt for a month, now that you mention it.”

The ridiculous training she’d undergone in her days at the monastery was an amusing memory now. Long ago, Menou and Momo had been restricted to only water and salt for a month, an exercise that was more like punishment.

Menou licked her lips.

By making this declaration now, Master Flare was all but acknowledging that she had little hope of defeating Menou and Akari. She would only knowingly destroy the teleport gate and trap herself here with them to force a draw.

Menou and Akari knew this was a trap to separate them. Splitting up now would be a poor move.

The ideal solution would be to work together to defeat Master Flare quickly and return to the holy land.

However, there was no guarantee that Menou and Akari could beat Flare in less than ten minutes, even as a team. If they started fighting again, their opponent would surely evade and stall for time. Now that there was a time limit, Menou and Akari were bound to become more panicked as the countdown reached its end, which might lead them to make a fatal error.

What was the best option?

Considering the risks, their answer was clear.

“Menou!”

“I’m counting on you.”

With that brief exchange, they went into action.

Despite knowing it was a trap, there was no choice but to go. The explosive might be a bluff, but it was too great a risk to ignore. No teleportation gate meant no way home. Even Akari’s Teleportation , which meddled with space, wasn’t powerful enough to send them across the sea back to the holy land.

Phosphorescent Guiding Light surrounded Akari’s body.

Guiding Force: Connect—Improper Attachment, Pure Concept [Time]—Invoke [Teleportation]

Akari vanished in a brilliant flash. She’d used a Teleportation conjuring to transport herself. Her spatial conjurings could only carry her over short distances. And now that Akari’s Guiding Force connection with Menou helped supplement her memories, there was no fear she would become a Human Error. As long as they restored the link after the battle, Menou could return any memories Akari had lost and return her to normal.

Surely it wouldn’t take longer than five minutes to locate the bomb Master Flare claimed to have planted.

Now the teacher and student were truly one-on-one.

Master Flare’s intentions were painfully clear; she wished to end this in the next five minutes.

If Menou survived the onslaught, she would win.

Despite being at a disadvantage, Master Flare had managed to separate Menou and Akari.

She truly was a formidable enemy.

Despite that, Menou found herself smiling. She couldn’t suppress a strangely out-of-place joy. It was odd. Menou had never thought she enjoyed fighting. She was certainly a far cry from a battle-crazed maniac.

Yet each time she clashed with her former master, she discovered a new side of herself.

And that was wonderful.

Blood dripped from the scratch on her cheek. Menou reduced the strength of her connection with Akari. Sharing emotions while the other girl searched would only hinder their plan. Divided attention could prove fatal.

“Hmm?”

Momentary doubt flitted through Menou’s mind.

Searching the ground.

There was something about it that…

No. Menou shook her head. Whatever it was, she intuited that it had nothing to do with the battle. Her current mental resources were limited, so she couldn’t afford to waste them on anything unnecessary.

Although Menou still had Akari’s supply of Guiding Force, their empathetic connection was considerably weaker. Menou couldn’t sense Akari’s condition, possibly because of the distance.

There was a curious sense of loss at their link diminishing, but Menou could not dwell on it.

Just as Menou shifted her attention, a Guiding Branch closed in on her. The girl clicked her tongue and evaded, leaping forward.

Guiding Force: Connect—Dagger, Crest—Invoke [Guiding Thread]

When she invoked her most familiar crest conjuring, it called up a memory.

A long time ago, Master Flare had complimented her embroidery.

Menou didn’t recall the exact words, but she clearly remembered the rare bit of praise. It must have been while they were at the monastery, and it had been a very trivial comment. Perhaps it hadn’t even been meant as praise, and the young Menou had misinterpreted it as such.

Menou had only studied stitching basics, while the younger Momo devoted herself to embroidery with far more enthusiasm.

Regardless, it was one of the very few times Menou recalled Master Flare complimenting her on anything.

It stuck with the girl enough that it became the sole reason she’d picked Guiding Thread as one of the crests to engrave in her dagger.

Even as Flare’s closest disciple, Menou didn’t model everything after her teacher. It was her wish to stand by the crimson-haired woman as an equal.

Since the day she’d wished to be like her master, Menou never allowed herself any regrets.

She devoted her entire body and mind to her battle with Master Flare.

Soft footsteps echoed in a seemingly abandoned structure.

This was before Menou and Akari had arrived at the land of salt. Akari had been taken away by Master Flare, and Menou chose to bring down the entire holy land to rescue her. Knowing that most of the holy land’s buildings were formed from a conjured barrier, she’d cut off the connection to the earthen vein that maintained the city.

With the barrier structures gone, only two edifices remained.

One was the train-platform-like facility, an ancient relic with Guiding Force tracks that served as an entrance and exit: the Dragon Gate.

It created gates that could send people and objects virtually anywhere in the world by way of the earthen vein that ran throughout the continent. In ancient times, these stations were features of ordinary towns. Now this one was the only remaining relic capable of long-distance teleportation.

As for the other building…

The cylindrical structure ran deep underground. This was the Star Memory, home to the recollections and records of humanity’s entire history.

This library was erected not to house oral tales or accounts penned in ink but to house memories. A thousand years ago, a vast communication network of Guiding Force was constructed on the idea that the entire planet was a conjuring phenomenon. The Star Memory was a facility that controlled that network.

For Otherworlders, who lost their memories each time they used a Pure Concept conjuring, this place was an invaluable lifeline that kept their spirits whole.

The Star Memory was completed during the time of the ancient civilization using a single person’s Pure Concept. Memories took the forms of books because of that Pure Concept’s influence as a cornerstone of the facility.

It was an incredible structure with a magnificent goal. Countless experiments were conducted in pursuit of that ambition. Conjuring researchers formed the theory, performed many experiments on animals, and then moved on to clinical studies with human subjects.

The person climbing the stairs toward the surface grimaced as old memories ran through her mind.

The sound of her footfalls on the steps fell silent. She clutched her chest as if fighting off an attack, staying in place for a while before resuming her walk.

“Not being able to forget things isn’t very pleasant, either…”

The girl who was slowly approaching ground level wore a sailor-style school uniform. She looked young, not yet twenty. Black hair ran past her waist, suggesting that it hadn’t been cut in many years. Her bangs were especially long, concealing more than half of her face.

Still, there was no hiding that she was beautiful.

She possessed long, slender legs and a perfectly proportioned body. Only one of her eyes was visible, and her bewitchingly long eyelashes alone were enough to fill any who saw her with a desire to glimpse more of her features. Her skin was pale by nature but made all the more so because she never went outside.

The girl had been inside the Star Memory for many years, but not because she’d been trapped. She could have left anytime she liked; it just wasn’t worth the trouble.

Moving, thinking, and even living were all such dreadful bothers.

Her once courageous spirit had been worn down to listlessness over the course of a millennium, to the point that she barely felt anything from existing.

Suddenly, she stared intently at her hand. She’d had a very unusual visitor not long ago: Manon Libelle, an underling of Pandemonium. Manon had wanted to see a particular book of memories. The girl had erased the visitor beyond any hope of resurrection. The weight of being unable to forget Manon after eradicating her was one more piece of emptiness heaped on a pile.

How long had it been since she stopped feeling anguish over taking a human life?

She kept moving toward the surface, one step at a time.

The single eye that peered out from behind her locks carried an emptiness.

Few others were wise enough to sympathize with this emptiness. She had experienced far more years than any human was meant to bear, swallowed up so much power that it transformed her very self. She was the exact opposite of Otherworlders, who slowly lost themselves by forgetting.

Her spirit endured by an inability to forget, filling up endlessly with memories. It was like utter darkness, but by nature, it had no color at all.

For the Pure Concept attached to her soul was Ivory .

“I’m so tired…”

With a long sigh, the girl took a book off one of the surrounding shelves. The scriptures members of the Faust received when they became priestesses were connected to this facility. As long as the scriptures, the Faust’s ultimate weapons, were scattered throughout the world, this girl had a searchable index of what happened to any priestess.

“She’s fighting Flare. Huh…”

The girl peered at the faraway battle, then closed the book.

This world, this planet, should have perished long ago. The ancient civilization was destroyed out of necessity.

They sent up satellites to observe and interfere with the weather, sapped the land dry, sought out new resources, and repeatedly summoned Otherworlders in an effort to gain control over various concepts.

Who remembered any of that now, though?

Those who would later become known as the Four Major Human Errors were originally test subjects during the height of human civilization. Even this girl—the Lord—was no different.

Back then, she had trustworthy friends who traveled the world with her and saved countless lives.

That’s why she knew better than anyone.

If the world depended on a small minority to save it from destruction, there was a risk that group would destroy the majority.

Thus, she felt it was only fair.

She was permitted to use all of this planet to suit her whims. They didn’t mind. The collective will of the Pure Concepts that dwelled within her urged her onward.

“I… We…”

She had absorbed so many. He and she, they and I, all intermingled and coexisted in her consciousness. No matter how many recollections she preserved, the effects of the ever-increasing power she constantly consumed and the time she had experienced still wore away at her soul and changed her nature.

The girl knew delusions controlled her, but that wasn’t exclusive to her. Pure Concept wielders could either be absorbed and turn into Human Errors or become wholly possessed by false ideas.

Still, she opened the door to step outside.

She had spent so much time already that it piled up into debts that could never be repaid, chipping away at her.

Stepping outside for the first time in who knows how long, the girl stood still and squinted into the sunlight.

“It’s so bright.”

She took her first step into the open to seize upon a chance to finally liquidate those debts.

As one figure left the facility, a small shadow crept inside.

The reclusive resident of the Star Memory departed only to be replaced by a shadow that looked like a rain puddle dyed black. It spread onto the empty floor and began to bubble. The small thing boiled up and frothed over. Once it hit critical mass, it exploded.

The black shadow burst with a pop, not unlike a party cracker. Now there stood a small girl in a white, one-piece dress: Pandæmonium.

“Mmm! There’s no one here at aaaall, is there?”

Typically, this girl tended to do things in stark contrast to her innocent, naive appearance. However, now she looked around with an uncharacteristic show of caution.

Not long ago, she’d wavered on whether to enter this structure at all.

No holy land barrier protected it. The building was entirely vulnerable. Indeed, Manon had already slipped inside. There was no reason Pandæmonium couldn’t do the same.

She’d hesitated because of the presence she detected within that great library.

Her Human Error instincts had screamed like an alarm.

There was someone in the Star Memory that no Human Error wished to meet.

But the figure who inspired a mixture of fondness, fear, and pity all at once had just ventured outside. The lingering scent of her power was still enough to repel a Human Error, and it would have dissuaded Pandæmonium, despite her knowing Manon was inside.

But not long ago, Manon’s response from within the Star Memory had vanished.

The unpleasant entity had abandoned the structure and was in what remained of the holy land. Still, Pandæmonium cautiously concealed her presence as she crept through the room barefoot.

The interior resembled a typical library, although Pandæmonium knew what it really was.

Information from all over the continent and people’s memories; a vast spiritual panorama given physical form. This was one small part of the complex used in the time of the ancient civilization to attempt to control all information in the world.

The Guiding vessels designed to contain memories as readable information took the form of books. That was the most appropriate form for the conjuring. Pandæmonium took little interest in the immense collection of thoughts, however.

Upon reaching the innermost part of the Star Memory, she dropped to a crouch and looked down.

Manon lay before her.

Her body lay on the hard floor, and it appeared utterly cold. There was no need to check her pulse; she was clearly deceased.

“Mm-mm-mm, so you’ve gone and died again.”

Without a trace of hesitation or concern, Pandæmonium poked at Manon’s body, and her shoulders slumped with disappointment.

Manon’s corpse didn’t have a shadow. The part Pandæmonium had created to store away her soul was missing.

The Original Sin Conjurings that Pandæmonium controlled were some of the few that could touch the soul. So long as the death was recent, Pandæmonium could offer sacrifices to reconstruct the shattered soul to perform a sort of pseudo-resurrection.

But it wouldn’t work this time.

Manon’s body was perfectly unharmed. Her spirit had been utterly erased. Without a soul, Pandæmonium’s Original Sin Conjuring would only produce a puppet that resembled Manon. She could fabricate a soul modeled after Manon’s, but it would still be an imitation.

They’d gotten along so well… There was nothing she could do now that the girl was truly dead, though. Pandæmonium glumly rested her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands.

Just as she sighed in dismay over her visit being in vain and began to stand…

Guiding Force: Sacrifice (Conditions Met)—Original Sin, Sloth: Body—Summon [Original Sin Fiend: Grudge]

An Original Sin Conjuring activated with Manon’s body as its origin point.

Since it had triggered without any conjurer around, it had to be a conjuring with a Conditional Activation established in advance. Most likely, Manon had carved the condition into her body, setting it to activate when her soul disappeared and to use her corpse as a sacrifice.

As soon as the conjuring began, Manon’s body rotted away rapidly. It turned to black dust, not even leaving bones behind. Original Sin Conjurings summoned the desired power in exchange for some portion of the user’s living body. Once Manon’s body was destroyed, a shadow appeared, animated with temporary life.

“Mm?”

It was only a silhouette, making it challenging to identify any specific features. Judging by the apparent age of the figure, it was an echo of Manon.

Despite appearing two-dimensional, it gave off a certain elasticity when Pandæmonium prodded it. The sacrifice used to create it wasn’t sufficient to construct a shade that housed Manon’s consciousness. This was only a shadow puppet acting on the will Manon had imbued it with beforehand.

The flimsy shadow lifted a book from the floor and held it out to Pandæmonium.

No sooner did she receive it than the faint strength remaining in the shadow dispersed.

“Manon?”

There was no response, for the specter had already vanished. Manon Libelle was gone, leaving behind only her clothes.

What had she been trying to achieve in her final moments? Pandæmonium tilted her head.

She’d been handed a Guiding vessel containing information in the shape of a book. It was a unique recording medium employed during the ancient civilization’s era to store the spirit of an intelligent life-form. The power of a certain Pure Concept created the Guiding information circuits, allowing a spirit to flow through them to reproduce a human’s memories. However, it was difficult for a Human Error to compensate for losing their recollections. Their perpetually active concept conjurings functioned on too grand a scale, exhausting memories quicker than they could be replenished.

Since this Pandæmonium was only a pinky finger, separated from the distant true form of Evil , she depleted memories at a slower rate, yet she was still a part of a Human Error. Her memories of the present moment were continuously fading.

Manon had left this behind for her. What memories did it contain? Perhaps those of Manon herself? No matter the answer, Pandæmonium was bound to forget them. Still, she made a Guiding Force connection to the storage medium to read the information bound within. And that’s when something happened.

Guiding Force: World Connect (Conditions Met)—Scripture, Third Charter—Invoke [Our world is beyond words]

The spirit preserved inside the book was released from its seal and flowed into her body, permeating her and solidifying memories within her.

The alignment only took an instant, yet its effect was dramatic.

“……”

The little girl’s lips trembled, her hand still on the book.

She lifted her gaze. Her eyes found the spot on the floor where Manon’s body had been, and she was dumbstruck to see that naught but clothes remained. Now that Manon was gone, Pandæmonium realized too late what that girl had been to her.

She understood, too, what became of her body. Pandæmonium looked around, taking in her location anew. Her eyes were wide, and her fingers trembled. The sight left her unmoved just moments ago, but now everything was different.

She was filled with a dizzying rage.

The cold smile that had previously held a permanent place on her lips was absent. She lifted the book overhead with both hands, then threw it down as hard as she could.

And that wasn’t the end of her outburst. Pandæmonium furiously kicked the volume repeatedly with her little feet. Her kicks could only make a pathetically small noise, tiny as she was, yet she went on stomping.

“Why you… You…! How could you do this…?! And she’s still at it…!”

Anyone who knew Pandæmonium’s nature would’ve been stunned by this display. It was deeply uncharacteristic of the Human Error.

She flung a look around the room, breathing heavily. Astonishingly, the light of reason and emotion shone in her eyes.

“I’ll destroy this place… No. If I go back to my main body…I’ll just be absorbed. Then…what in the world can I do on my own…?” she muttered.

After voicing and rejecting a few rounds of ideas, Pandæmonium seemed to settle on a direction. She raised her cherubic young face.

“I’ll go to someone…on the outside.”

The holy land was in a state of utter chaos, and this girl had taken advantage of that.

A flash of determination filled her eyes, and she lowered them helplessly.

“…I’m scared.”

The girl’s shoulders trembled as she thought of what she was about to do and realized there was no one to depend on and no place to go.

Shaken by hopelessness, the little girl donned the kimono Manon had left behind. It was much too long for her. The sleeves hung past her hands, and the garment threatened to slide off her shoulders at any moment. When she started walking, the hem dragged along the floor behind her.

The girl clutched the sleeves of the poorly fitting kimono tightly.

“Why…?”

Was this truly still the pinky finger of Pandemonium, one of the Four Major Human Errors?

Compared to her usual demeanor, her voice sounded unbelievably weak. She appeared to be a lost child on the verge of tears.

For how upset she was, she knew what had to be done. The girl shuddered at the cruelty that wouldn’t permit her to hesitate.

She clung to the kimono, her sole memento, for comfort.

The girl looked so tiny and forlorn.

After all, she’d always been the weakest of them. She understood that better than anyone.

“All of you… I know I’m pathetic, but would you stop leaving me all alone?”

The terribly weak and helpless whimper echoed feebly in the empty library.