novelLegend of Sword (4)
| ← Ch.045 | Ch.047 → |
"Kazuha-senpai, so the entrance to that suspicious underground is located inside the site of the Magic Division?"
"Correct. You are being pursued by the Magic Division right? Don't make unnecessary noises and advance with care."
Kazuha-senpai said so while taking the lead. All present crossed over from the Sword Division to the site of the Magic Division.
"I'm not good at being stealthy you know...somehow I let out a uselessly loud voice before I realized it."
When Mio whispered as such, Kohaku was nodding her head and said "I can understand that."
"I lived my life continuously in secret before desu." Lotte puffed her chest proudly.
The time was 9 o'clock in the morning. This is the period of time when SHR was conducted. Even though they must be careful, there were no human presences in the outdoors of the Magic Division.
"This way...is the way to the Witch's Manor."
All present stepped into the area that was dense with thick greenery. The same direction was just a coincidence, but the Witch's Manor was also beyond these trees.
Nonetheless, the residents of the Witch's Manor―the senpais were supposed to have already left for school by this time.
"...What are you all doing in this kind of place!? This is already time for morning assembly to start you know!"
A sharp voice that was unexpected in their carelessness rang out.
They were too easy-going in their vigilance. When they turned around, a shadow of someone was running from the direction of the Witch's Manor.
The moment both sides could see each other clearly, voices were raised at the same time.
"Hoshikaze-senpai!"
"Hayashizaki-kun, you guys!"
Kazuki and the others were frozen in place involuntarily. Should they run, what should they do?
But Hoshikaze-senpai could chant [Ride Lightning], so even if they tried to escape this was not an opponent they could escape from.
"Shem-ha MephorashI know thy true name...thy true name is Baalzebul, all evil was born in the Middle Ages. O corrupted god of good harvest, in accordance with my life regain that radiance!"
Hoshikaze-senpai performed Access while facing Kazuki and opening the range between them.
Her body was wrapped in a gallant Magic Dress like a knight, senpai took the posture of preparing for action.
"Hayashizaki-kun, why are you in this place!?"
"Senpai as well...what about SHR?"
"Kuu...I overslept!"
Hoshikaze-senpai's cheek was slightly red as she replied in embarrassment.
(That serious Hoshikaze-senpai overslept!?)
"It can't be helped okay!? It already became a custom to wake up early for sword training with you, but you weren't here so even if I woke up early I had nothing to do, finally I went back to sleep for the second time! It's your fault my daily routine became tattered like this!"
"That kind of reason!? I mean, that's not my fault right!?"
"A, anyway! ...I have to arrest you!"
Hoshikaze-senpai pushed her way through the trees and the thickets, she was dashing towards Kazuki and the others.
"Freeze and lock, ~Murasame~! Battou Kaikon―Kirisame Ranbu!!"
The one who immediately and without any hesitation intercepted was Kohaku. She liberated the power of the Sacred Treasure and pointed the blade of cold wave toward Hoshikaze-senpai.
"Howl! Civilization granted destruction to humans! The roar of wisdom burns thy body, break, shut every dignity under the rubble!! Mitrailleuse!"
Following Kohaku, Lotte too chanted her spell quickly which was the strong point of DrivePossession Summoning, she spread a barrage of bullets to try to stop Hoshikaze-senpai's movements.
"O stream of atmosphere, converge in this body, become the storm of rejection against the people I resent! The eye of the typhoon is my throne! Wind Encampment BarrierStorm Fort!"
Hoshikaze-senpai chanted a wind defensive magic. A storm blew violently with senpai as the center.
The storm also functioned as a protective wind. Even the blades of ice and the bullets of a gatling gun were blown off by the wind and scattered to another direction. ―There was something called [affinity] in offensive and defensive magic. Both Kohaku's Battou Kaikon and Lotte's bullets had bad affinity against defensive wind magic.
Hoshikaze-senpai drew near becoming like the running typhoon itself. Kazuki came out in front to cover everyone. Closing in upon Kazuki, Hoshikaze-senpai converged the barrier of wind and drew out an Iai.
What was on her waist was Kazuki's beloved katana, Doufuu, that he left behind in the Witch's Manor!
(Senpai didn't wish for a clash of magic but crossing swords against each other!?)
"...Everyone, don't interfere, it's okay!"
Kazuki too drew his Iai and intercepted Hoshikaze-senpai's katana. Blade and blade clashed and they entered a locking of swords.
Kazuki immediately flicked off Hoshikaze-senpai's katana.
Senpai's stance became disordered and full of openings. But right at that moment―she invoked her spell.
"Throw down the lightning on my body and grant me lightning fast wit and speed of god...call the sleeping lion and wake up! Ride Lightning!"
Senpai's movement accelerated! Her disordered stance burst with sparks and she righted her body fiercely.
And then she came flying with lightning speed with the consecutive attacks that Kazuki taught her.
BUN! BUN! BUN! The god speed sword came flying along with terrific sounds of slicing wind.
Kazuki Foresighted the timing and the trajectory of the attacks, 'GIIN!' the sound of clashing swords rang out and the attack was repelled.
A sound that was unthinkable that it came from a fight between fellow humans echoed inside the forest.
"Hey...this is a joke right, how can this kind of offense and defense happen in a fight between fellow Magic Division students..."
Kazuha-senpai leaked out an astonished voice. Not to mention the swordsman of the Sword Division, even Kazuki was undoubtedly gazing at Hoshikaze-senpai's magic sword in wonderment.
But as expected from Kazuki, he could read Hoshikaze-senpai's movements. That was because her form was exactly like what he taught her himself.
His blade met the god speed swordsmanship, both of their swords were once again locked against each other. Kazuki concentrated his Enchant Aura in one instant and repelled Hoshikaze-senpai's katana with all his strength. It was the end with that.
Doufuu flew away from Hoshikaze-senpai's hand and stabbed the nearby earth straightly.
"Senpai, why didn't you use any magic...?"
Kazuki asked the now unarmed Hoshikaze-senpai.
Hoshikaze-senpai was the Number 2 Magica Stigma in the Magic Division after all. If she turned the fight into an exchange of long-range Summoning Magic, the result would be uncertain even if she was fighting against five people.
"I...I wanted to learn more swordsmanship from you."
Slowly, tears were flowing from Hoshikaze-senpai's long-slitted eyes.
"You are the first male friend that I was able to make. The training every morning was fun. Even so...why did you do something that made you be pursued by the student council of the Magic Division!? I...as I thought, I don't want to fight against you! I am not as harsh as Kaguya after all..."
The fighting spirit had gone from senpai, her Magic Dress also changed back to her uniform.
Her shoulders sagged down making her look pitiful.
"Senpai, I am being falsely accused."
"Even if you say that, my position doesn't allow me to believe you."
Hoshikaze-senpai glared with teary eyes. That was natural. However...
"That's why, from here I plan to go look for proof. After that I will come to the Magic Division."
"Proof? ...You will find that kind of thing?"
"Senpai, there is something in the underground of the Magic Division, do you have some knowledge of it?"
"The underground, below the Magic Division?"
Hoshikaze-senpai tilted her head in wonderment. Seeing that look, Kazuki was relieved.
Hoshikaze-senpai was not connected with the [underground ceremony that released the ominous magical power].
"There is something that even all of you senpai don't know about below this Magic Division. Something that Solomon's 72 Pillars also have nothing to do with, it is someone's...by chance, maybe it is filled with the ill will of a different Mythology. If the situation keeps going like this, the relation between the Magic Division and the Knight Order with Solomon's 72 Pillars will be threatened. From here I am going to go investigate that location."
"...So you are really accused with false charges? And to prove that, can you do it...?"
Hoshikaze-senpai blinked her eyes that were wet with tears.
Even in this kind of situation, she was still lending her ears to the voice of this side, she was really an honestly kind prince.
"Yes. I will definitely return to the Witch's Manor. Until then, please look after my soul as a swordsman."
Kazuki picked up Doufuu that had fallen on the ground and handed it over to Hoshikaze-senpai.
Senpai brought this katana around because she felt that it was the symbol of her bond with Kazuki.
Once again, Kazuki entrusted his beloved katana to Hoshikaze-senpai.
"Understood, I'll overlook you for today."
Hoshikaze-senpai sheathed Doufuu, then she wiped her teary eyes repeatedly with the sleeve of her uniform.
"I'll overlook you for now, but I won't wait for you too long, okay? If you don't return soon, there won't be a next time!"
Senpai said her piece with a pampering tone.
"...Thank you very much, senpai."
Senpai forced herself a little to make a smile.
"Yeah, I'm glad. This is finished with no need to doubt my friend and cute junior any further. You said that I can trust you, I'm really glad....Well then, work hard you all."
Senpai turned on her heel. A small heart mark flew here from her back.
'This feeling too, I absolutely must not betray it', Kazuki thought.
There was nothing in that place at a glance.
But for an entrance to the underground that even Hoshikaze-senpai didn't know anything about, that was only natural.
"It was hidden by a Diva's magic power. Looks like a seal and concealment are applied at the same time."
The avatar of Futsunushi no Kami said.
It was in the remote place of the Magic Division's garden where trees were growing densely. There was nothing that stood out there, but that normalcy itself was unnatural. Despite the hardship of walking about because of the abundance of trees and thickets in their surroundings, only that two or three meters of space that had its soil exposed and turned into wasteland.
"This location is the only spot where reality is distorted. Even someone like me can see it, right now, we are going to sever that seal."
"...I become the miko of sword. Stone cleaved, root torn, sin cut through, right now in this hand that virtuous sword of crushing evil! Draw sword, Futsunushi no Kami!!"
Kazuha-senpai chanted the Summoning Magic of Futsunushi no Kami. The power of that Sacred Treasure hadn't been shown by even a portion in the previous duel, this time for sure she held aloft the sword gallantly.
"This sword possesses the power to sever the flow of magical power and seals!"
A flash. Releasing light, Futsunushi no Kami released a beam of light in the air with its slash, a crack was running in that space where there was nothing. It resembled the moment where Cancer was appearing.
The space was smashed up into bits from where the crack formed.
―And then from down there, a totally different scene was appearing.
In the space where there was nothing until just now, a cube made from metal became visible.
Its size was not really considerable, even compared to a single house it was small, a gate was installed in its entrance. At the side of the gate, there was a lens protruding out that looks like some kind of mechanism.
"This is an instrument device to confirm the stigmata. If it confirms the owner of the stigmata, then the gate will be opened. Just once, we tested it with my stigmata on Kazuha and it confirmed and opened."
When Futsunuhi no Kami said so, Mio who didn't have any cowardly character at all touched the gate repeatedly.
"This gate is...Adamantite. It's impossible to break it apart even with Summoning Magic huh. It looks like there is no other way than to make the device confirm our stigmata."
Adamantite was a new type of steel that was produced by alchemy. It boasted a hardness unthinkable by current science, but its creation needed an advanced magic technique.
The present alchemy couldn't form anything other than a single simple sheet of metal, moreover because of the ultra weight it boasted, it couldn't be made into material for weapons, armor, or vehicles. The merit of its utility was small.
"Fabricating a stigmata cannot be done, so from here on only Magica Stigma can enter."
The present era's security technique, because of the development of alchemy, new kinds of problems were exposed.
Once ~living body confirmation security~ like using finger print or retina had the most reliability, but in recent years, various risks of magic forgery were identified.
Copying finger print and retina using magic was not impossible as long as someone was making an effort for it.
In the level of common households, a system using keys and alarms developed using complicated refining alchemy was enough, but the security for the level of insuring the secrets that corporations and the country had was viewed as a problem.
Security using stigmata as confirmation was solid because currently at this point it was impossible to be faked, but it was still an imperfect technique because it couldn't be used except by Magica Stigma. Perhaps before long a system that would be using the difference of magic power wavelength between each individual would be born, but...
"This device, does it also have an arrangement to record the shape of the confirmed stigmata into some storage?"
"Hmm, it probably does. When it confirmed my stigmata, it didn't have any knowledge of it so there was no problem at all. But it's a different story with the stigmata of Solomon's 72 Pillars that you all have. You will be specially considered as intruders the moment you opened the gate. There is a risk, so your confidence is going to be tested here."
Futsunushi no Kami said with a serious face and tone.
"...However Amasaki Mio, it looks like you are only getting dragged into this, is it really okay for you?"
"N―. According to what all of you said, there is a possibility that the top brass of the Knight Order and the Knight Academy are connected to this gate, so we couldn't report this to the Knight Order and the Knight Academy right? Then the only fighting power in Japan that can deal with the thing beyond this gate, right now in this place, are the four of us."
From Kazuki and Lotte, Mio also glanced at Koyuki, then she said four people.
"There is no mistake something rotten is being performed behind this gate. We can't possibly do something like overlooking this. We have to prove Kazuki's innocence too."
"...Guwahhahha! You are really a bold girl with a sense of justice!! I've come to think that it's fine to trust you all unconditionally even without testing you like this!"
Toward Mio who said bluntly without hesitation, Futsunushi no Kami was laughing admiringly.
"...It was unexpected for Amasaki-san to also count me in."
Koyuki whispered absent-mindedly.
"You are at least as strong as me, after all, so it's a fact that you can be relied on."
Relied―Koyuki's eyes turned wide slightly hearing those words.
But she was embarrassed after all, immediately she averted her sight from Mio and faced aside.
"Is Hiakari-san coming too?"
"...I have already come this far so is that something you need to ask? Things like Kazuki's innocence is inconsequential for me, but for there to be something like this so near to the Witch's Manor, it cannot just be left alone like this."
"Thank you, Hiakari-san."
"Even though I have said that whatever happened to you is inconsequential, why are you still saying thanks?"
"Eh, because you are actually worried about us right?"
"Please listen carefully to what someone is saying."
This exchange looks like a promise.
"Kazuki, this one cannot accompany you because of the lack of stigmata. But this one's heart will always be together with you. That's why when you return safely, marry this one."
"That's why I told you I don't want to marry for the sake of kenjutsu."
"N, no Kazuki, this one, that is not all..."
"...Don't just keep making a stir in front of the gate, how about you all just go quickly?"
Kazuha-senpai forcefully slipped between Kazuki and Kohaku.
"If the SHR is over, the Magic Division's students will come outside for class. Then it will become hard for us to return to the Sword Division, don't you know? Hush!" She waved her hand with a spiteful gaze.
"...In the case that we haven't returned after half a day, it's probably pointless but report it to the Knight Order. The fact is, the only ones who could do anything about what is beyond this gate is only all of you. I'm counting on you somehow."
Futsunushi no Kami gave those words for the last time.
"Yosh, then let's go everyone!"
The stigmata confirmation system itself looked like the entrance of the Haunted Ground.
The essential was the same with that time, Kazuki made the back of his hand emit the light of magic power and held it aloft before the device.
―The adamantite door opened with a grave sound. Behind it was stairs that continued underground.
"From the cross-section of that door also functioned as the construction to read the light of the magic power. If you don't go through it one by one, it will close on its own accord. It will close the moment you go through, you couldn't try to be sneaky."
Kazuha-senpai explained how the opening of this door worked.
When Kazuki went through the door, the door closed immediately just like what Kazuha-senpai said.
Even with the door closed, the surrounding was bright. It was a stairway continuing to the underground, but the electric lights in the ceiling emitted bright light.
This side of the door also had the stigmata confirmation device. It looks like they could return when they came back here.
Before long, Mio, Lotte, and Koyuki came through the door in turn after going through the same procedure.
"Hiakari-san, are you nervous by any chance?"
Kazuki noticed that Koyuki's expression was stiff. It was quite unexpected. The one that was the most accustomed with this among them should be her who often performs solo quests.
"...Nothing, I'm fine. All of us are here already, so let's advance."
After they had descended underground for about two floors, they finally reached a corridor that was level.
The walls and the floor were made from concrete, but the more they advanced, the state of their vicinity changed. The hard concrete wall was, 'dokun', starting to pulse weakly.
Like entering the inside of a living thing which had its own will...
Even the light of the electric lamp that should be made of inorganic matter turned pale, transitioning into a suspicious tint.
"It looks like Haunted Ground transformation doesn't it? Even something like Demon Beasts might also come out. Perhaps there are also traps prepared by the owner of this place. In every sense, we really don't understand what is going on here."
Mio performed Access, she talked while her body was wrapped in the Magic Dress while also keeping her vigilance.
Next Lotte also changed her clothes into her Magic Dress.
"Kazuki-oniisan, this is something I understood just now desu, but it looks like I can use my magic until level 5 desu. I think it was the influence from Prometheus remembering his own name."
"Level 3 to level 5...Lotte's chant is fast, so it is quite a considerable power up."
"Yes, I'll do my best!"
When Kazuki was patting Lotte's head who was grinning happily, Koyuki also replaced her clothes with her Magic Dress....Somehow her expression was stiff.
"Hiakari-san, perhaps your physical condition is bad?"
"Ah, no...please don't mind me. Let's keep advancing forward."
Her condition weighed a little on his mind, but Koyuki was a solo player with an abundance of experience that Kazuki couldn't compare with.
That fact made him hesitate to meddle and ask her.
"Then I'll stand as the vanguard. Mio and Hiakari-san are the rearguard, while Lotte who can fight flexibly shall move to the middle."
Mio and Koyuki didn't have any objection, Lotte too replied "Okay, desu" and accepted the special role obediently.
The width of the corridor was around three people standing side by side. When Kazuki who went as the vanguard saw this, he could say that the terrain made it easy for him to protect the back. It made his role as the vanguard even more important.
But, at that time...a rift entered the path of the corridor smoothly.
(Rift?)
And then 'GAKUN!', their footing shook. The floor where Kazuki and the others stood started to slide off diagonally, the rift was widening like a big mouth opening wide.
"TRAP!?" Mio yelled.
"Everyone, jump!" Kazuki raised his voice.
The floor didn't fall and opening a hole immediately, the dull concrete where they stood tilted vertically little by little. In that slight time, jumping to the other side of the rift was not a hard thing to do for the magician of this era because they could use Enchant Aura.
Kazuki, Mio, and also Lotte made blue light shine on their feet simultaneously and leapt to the other side of the rift. However―for some reason only Koyuki was still remaining at that spot.
Koyuki was standing stock still on that spot with an uncertain expression. Strangely, there was no flow of magic power that could be sensed from her body. Koyuki's body was stiff and her face was white as a sheet.
"Hiakari-san!?"
He didn't understand what her reason was, but right now she couldn't use magic.
And then the floor tilted rapidly. It went towards the hole where its bottom couldn't be seen.
Kazuki immediately leapt back to the tilting floor. And then his arms caught Koyuki's body that was sliding down in the nick of time. And now―they were falling down together.
"Kazuki!?" He could hear Mio's scream.
―With their postures as it was, there was no method to return to where Mio and Lotte were. The floor had already finished tilting down, there was no more place he could kick off with his foot. He couldn't do anything other than to just let his body fall down.
Their bodies were falling down...Mio and Lotte's figures were becoming farther rapidly...
'zuzuzu', The floor started to move once again after dropping off Kazuki and Koyuki, the dropping hole started to get blocked.
"Kazu, ki..."
Inside Kazuki's arms, a scared moan of Koyuki's voice was leaking out.
The two keep falling down just like that toward the unknown depth.
| ← Ch. 045 | Ch. 047 → |