Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles Volume 25, page 1
Table of Contents
Cover
Color Illustrations
Jnovels
Prologue: Preparations
Chapter 1: The Seventh Wise God
Chapter 2: Golem
Chapter 3: Live or Die
Chapter 4: Counterattack Signal
Interlude: Sandbox World
Chapter 5: Our Hero
Chapter 6: Untrustworthy Prophet
Afterword
Bonus Short Story
Bonus Illustration
About J-Novel Club
Copyright
Prologue: Preparations
Immediately after the Divine War ended—that is, a thousand years before the modern era which Rio lived in and somewhere in eastern Strahl, a woman with extremely elegant features stood alone in an uninhabited wasteland. She looked frail enough to be blown away by a gust of wind, and appeared to be no older than twenty.
“This should be the spot.” She looked around the area with certainty.
She seemed to have come to the uninhabited wasteland with a clear purpose, but she didn’t appear to be a traveler of sorts. She was wearing a casual dress, as though she was out on a stroll through the neighborhood. She didn’t have any belongings on her.
“Ugh...”
The woman staggered, mouth twisting in pain. She had a hand pressed down against her abdomen, and her face was as pale as a ghost. She looked like she was in so much agony that she could faint at any moment.
But the woman clenched her teeth and mustered all her strength. She had something she had to do first.
I’m sorry. There’s no time. He’s going to die before I can copy everything over. I have to leave everything to you, one thousand years in the future.
Those were the words she had uttered just before coming here. She had said them to Aishia, the humanoid spirit girl who would travel with Rio in the future.
The woman—Lina—would do everything she could to prepare for the future to come in one thousand years. Even if she had lost her power to see into the future, even if the otherworld powers had placed her in a state of certain death...
I will use the little of my remaining lifespan to do everything I can.
Lina looked up at the blue sky over her head with renewed determination.
My battle begins here...
Despite her awareness of how little time she had left, Lina beamed with satisfaction, then lowered her gaze to the land she stood on.
It was the spot where the Galarc Castle would stand in the future.
Chapter 1: The Seventh Wise God
Year 1000 of the Holy Era.
Early in the morning, when the sky was still dim, a huge pillar of fire rose from the red-light district of the capital of Galarc. It was the flame Sendo Takahisa had released to burn down the brothel. The fire was so fierce, it was visible from the castle, and it created a commotion as people wondered what was going on.
Satsuki and the others in the mansion were also roused from their sleep and rushed outside in a hurry. The pillar of fire could be seen from the garden, where Celia, Latifa, Sara, Orphia, Alma, Satsuki, Aki, Masato, Charlotte, Komomo, Gouki, and Kayoko had gathered. They were accompanied by Gouki’s servants—including Sayo and her brother, Shin—and Charlotte’s personal knights, as well as Celia’s mother, Monica, and Liselotte, who just so happened to be staying overnight. Miharu was the only one who wasn’t with them.
The entire group held their breaths as they watched the pillar of fire. The flames eventually died away and disappeared from view, but the silence lingered after.
They were all thinking the same thing: it couldn’t have been a natural phenomenon, as any normal fire couldn’t burn all the way up to the sky as this had. Thus, it had to be an artificial flame.
However, there was a limit to how large a man-made fire could get. Magic that could create a flame this large generally didn’t exist in modern Strahl, and producing something of this scale with spirit arts would be absurd. It would take someone with an enormous amount of latent power to do so—and there was only a select number of people who fulfilled that condition.
“H-Hey, that fire just now...” Masato said hesitantly.
Do you think it was my brother controlling it?
The question of whether Takahisa—who had sneaked out of the castle and vanished—was the culprit behind the phenomenon was on the tip of his tongue, before he swallowed it back down.
What was he trying to burn with a fire like that? Why would he do such a thing? Just the thought of it was terrifying.
“H-Hey, where’d Miharu go?!”
In an attempt to shake off the bad feeling she had, Aki glanced around at her surroundings in search of Miharu. Although they weren’t related by blood, she sought the comfort of the girl she adored like an older sister, but Miharu was nowhere to be seen.
“Wha...?!”
A vast amount of magic essence suddenly appeared in the sky above the castle. The scene was comparable to the shock wave of a bomb radiating from the sky—the air shook with the pressure of the essence, and those who could detect it quickly prepared themselves for battle with panicked expressions on their faces.
“A spirit aura?!”
Sara, Orphia, and Alma all whirled around to look at a corner of the garden. Their contract spirits had probably informed them that a spirit had appeared nearby. Sure enough, Aisha stood where they were looking. She was wearing one of the masks that allowed her to evade the restrictions of a transcendent one.
“Who is that...?” everyone wondered curiously.
Of course they would: Aisha had become a transcendent one along with Rio, so no one could remember her.
Aishia?! Why did you materialize... Never mind. I can see the situation calls for it.
The only exception was Celia, who the rules of god didn’t apply to for some reason. She could remember both Rio and Aishia clearly.
“Everyone, run!” Aishia yelled, flying into the air. Her normally emotionless voice was filled with a strong sense of urgency. “Everyone, we have to get out of here! Hurry...!”
Run now, was what Celia was about to say when she spotted Miharu making her way out the entrance of the mansion.
“Miharu, this way!” Celia shouted.
Her yells drew the attention of the others in the garden, who all looked to Miharu as well. However, Miharu appeared to be half asleep, eyes unfocused as she trudged forward. The sight of her like that made Celia run over in concern. But Miharu merely came to a stop and gazed up at the pressure in the air illuminated by the sunrise.
What’s wrong, Miharu?! Celia drew closer to her.
“Assumo,” Miharu said.
“Huh?” Celia doubted her ears; that word was the same as the start of the ancient magic spell she had obtained just recently.
“Exemplar: Septimum Caelum Vel Persona.”
I knew it! But...
After hearing the rest of Miharu’s words, Celia was convinced, but confused. It was slightly different from the ancient magic spell she had obtained, and Miharu had never obtained any ancient magic spells.
Did that mean this wasn’t the work of an ancient magic spell, but an artifact with sorcery embedded within it? But if so, when did she obtain such a thing? Either way, the light of the complex spell formula soon enveloped Miharu’s body.
“Miharu?!” Satsuki yelled in shock.
But Miharu didn’t even spare her a glance as she looked down at her hands as though to confirm something. Then, with a gleeful grin that was unimaginable for her—
“It worked,” she mumbled to herself smugly.
Celia was speechless as she stared at her.
Miharu looked up and met her gaze, then smiled.
“Now, it’s time to fix the divergent futures,” she said in a tone completely unlike her usual self.
◇ ◇ ◇
A short while ago, in the time between the disappearance of the fire pillar in the red-light district and the appearance of the powerful essence source above Galarc Castle.
The ambassador of the Proxia Empire, Reiss Vulfe, was in the sky above the city. He hovered in place while looking down on the Galarc Castle below. Floating beside him was a transparent orb, several dozens of centimeters in diameter.
Reiss placed a hand against the orb and poured his magic essence into it. After a pause, a complex spell formula unfolded around the orb. This meant the orb was some kind of magic artifact.
The precious parting gift of the Wise Gods, the golem. I wanted to analyze how the official owner registration worked before using it in combat, but alas...
Indeed, the ancient artifact Reiss was about to activate was a golem, created by the Seven Wise Gods long in the past. They were an autonomous mobile weapon of war that only obeyed the orders of the owner they were registered to.
However, Reiss was not its official owner. The golem was protected with a spell formula that prevented them from being activated, which he had circumvented to input his own orders.
Of course, activating it this way came with its own problems: the golem couldn’t be given any new orders once it was activated. To be more precise, while the golem was activated, any attempts to give it new inputs would be perceived as an enemy attack and trigger a fierce counterattack.
Thus, in order to input new orders, the golem had to be deactivated first. That being said, it wasn’t easy for someone who wasn’t the owner to deactivate the
I cannot defeat an activated golem in my current state. If I’m going to use this, I must be certain it will bury them. The target are the people in the mansion garden, and the highest priority is Celia Claire, followed by the humanoid spirit. If any other threats appear, those should be eliminated too.
Reiss was prepared to discard the golem after activating it. With Rio and Sora absent, this was a once in a lifetime chance to eliminate those in the castle. The strongest present were Aishia and Celia, who had ties to the Wise God Lina, but it was possible there were other threats hidden among them.
I would’ve liked to exclude the hero... But if she gets in the way, there’s no choice but to kill her. I’ll set it to keep damages to the castle and city to a minimum. I’ve got plenty of essence from saving up my magic for a thousand years. Worst comes to worst, the capital will just be erased from the map.
Once he finished inputting his entire order, Reiss removed his hand from the orb. The light of the spell formula faded, and a large amount of magic began to emerge from the orb. It was a sign of the golem activating.
Those on the ground will notice this ridiculous amount of essence soon enough.
The essence that was enough to make the air seem like it was shaking would reach the ground soon.
Just then, a change occurred to the source of the essence. A human-shaped exterior appeared like a materializing spirit. It was a bipedal robot with two arms, measuring roughly two meters tall.
The orb had been the core of this golem. This exterior form was what represented the activated golem.
It stared down at the Galarc Castle below. The sun was yet to rise completely, so the sky was still dim. In addition to this, there was over two kilometers distance to the ground, yet its eerily glowing eyes were able to clearly see the mansion and garden where everyone was gathered. Then, the golem moved its head and looked at Reiss.
Reiss had inputted his orders without being registered as the official owner. In this state, as long as he didn’t attack the golem, the golem shouldn’t register him as an enemy.
Reiss raised his arms in a show of nonresistance and slowly backed away from the golem. The golem then lost interest in him and looked away. Instead, its gaze was fixed on the mansion and its occupants below.
Immediately after, the golem pointed its mechanical right hand towards the mansion. Its magic essence swelled even more, concentrating around its hand.
Then, with a thundering boom, it fired a powerful bombardment of magic essence.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Now, it’s time to fix the divergent futures,” Miharu said to Celia with a smile.
For a brief moment, Celia was stunned into forgetting the current situation they were in. Then, she detected a surge in the essence source high overhead and looked up with a gasp. The sky was dim and the golem was so far away, it wouldn’t have been visible even in the daylight, but it was clear which direction the source of the essence was in.
Magic essence that normally needed training to be visualized had been condensed so much, it formed visible rays of light. Immediately after, enough magic to wipe out the mansion and surrounding area was fired from the golem.
The sight was like a full moon appearing at early dawn.
“No way...” Celia muttered, freezing as she stared at the light falling from the sky. In fact, everyone in the garden was still with despair, as though they were watching the end of the world take place.
There were only two exceptions: Aishia, who was rising into the sky while preparing her essence to face the golem, and Miharu.
“Dolus Magus: Excelsus Magia Castrum Murus.”
Her hands were held up towards the sky as she recited a spell. As soon as she did so, ten enormous magic circles appeared in the air above Aishia.
Remote activation of magic?!
Celia instantly understood what Miharu was trying to do. The remote activation of magic was extremely technical. Spells were normally cast by forming the circle right by the caster’s hands, but those that excelled at essence control were able to cast their magic circle anywhere within their field of view.
But the farther the distance from the caster, the more difficult that was to accomplish. When it came to advanced magic, that difficulty increased even more—especially when deploying multiple circles at once.
The multiple magic circles Miharu had just cast were located fifty meters away from her, and the formula appeared to be incredibly complex.
At any rate, a total of ten magic circles activated, forming a thick defensive wall of light around those in the garden of the mansion.
Aishia gazed in wonder at the barrier of magic essence that had suddenly appeared above her. For a brief moment, she wondered if she should activate something too, but promptly determined that the wall was enough and ceased her casting. No sooner had she did, the blast from the golem struck the essence barrier Miharu had deployed. Blinding light filled their field of view, illuminating the entire city.
With a rumbling roar, a storm blew over the area. In the midst of their obscured vision, the sound of a barrier shattering could be heard four times in quick succession.
But eventually, the sound slowed down to a stop with the ninth shatter. Celia still had her eyes closed against the light.
“This isn’t the time to be standing around,” Miharu said from right beside her.
“Huh?” Celia cracked open her eyes and glanced to her side.
“Transilio,” Miharu said, having grabbed Celia’s shoulder. A magic circle appeared under their feet, and the space around them distorted. The two disappeared from where they stood.
“Wha?!”
Multiple voices screamed as a thunderous sound like a falling meteorite could be heard. The golem had rapidly descended and landed on the ground. No, it was more like a fall than a descent. A violent shock wave spread from its point of landing.
It was at this point that Celia finally realized her surroundings had changed. Moments ago she had been with Miharu away from the rest of the others in the garden, but now they were in the middle of the group. It was as though they had both teleported.
“Lady Celia, Lady Miharu, when did you both...?” Gouki gasped. But his attention was soon drawn to the golem that had descended. Celia looked as well—and realized that the golem was where she had been standing moments ago.
A cold chill ran down her spine. If she hadn’t moved, she would have been crushed into a lump of flesh.
This time, Aishia was the one to descend rapidly upon the golem, stomping down with the momentum of her fall. The sound of forceful impact rang out. But the golem had raised its right arm to easily block Aishia’s feet. Feathers from the wings growing from the golem’s back separated from the wings and floated into the air.
Aishia immediately distanced herself from the golem. Each feather was shaped like a sharp, triangular blade, connecting together to form the shape of wings. In separated form, it was like having countless knives floating in the air.
Satsuki materialized the spear that was her Divine Arms.
“Y-You’ve gotta be kidding me...” she muttered with dread in her voice.
“Stand back!” Aria yelled at the others. She grabbed her enchanted sword and stood before Liselotte to protect her. The others similarly grabbed their weapons to protect those who were unarmed. Aishia positioned herself between the golem and everyone else.
Satsuki’s feeling of dread was on the mark. The feathers floating in the air began flying, aimed straight at the residents of the mansion.
“I won’t let you,” Aishia said.
She immediately deployed countless light orbs of essence. Each one moved all at once to intercept the approaching blades. Her aim was so accurate, it managed to strike and deflect every single blade.
However, while the orbs Aishia released had struck the blades and deflected them, they hadn’t been able to harm them. The blades were knocked off trajectory, some falling to the ground, but they all quickly readjusted and started flying at the residents of the mansion again.
Aishia quickly tried to make more light orbs, but the golem moved to attack her directly. It moved in front of her in an instant, raising its metallic fist and swinging at her face.
