[V9C19] Crystal Blades
Translated by Jodas 9: Battle for the TowerHeadmaster Möbius, the highest authority in the Wedge Tower, completed his mission to bring Prince Axel of Darwock to meet with with the Queen, then made use of a combination of flight magic and horses to head back to the Wedge Tower faster than anyone else on the expedition.
At a town along the way, he heard of the situation that befell the Wedge Tower’s mages. He also heard that the Investigation Office mages in the town of Merwen had been wiped out, and that Monsters were lying in wait in the mountains to the West that should ordinarily have been safe.
It appeared that the Apprentice Mages who had accompanied him on the expedition to Darwock were heading to the Wedge Tower by way of the Lange Hamlet, led by Caspar Hütter and escorted by Lutz Otto.
(I think they should be safe as long as Lutz and Sir Hütter are with them, but…)
Lutz Otto was Möbius’ former classmate and a talented magic swordsman. While he had transferred to the Protection Office, he should still be more than enough to fight off Monsters.
And while the Dream Mage, Caspar Hütter, was nominally an outsider, Möbius trusted Hütter.
Typically, those sent from the Mage Association were the losers of the Association’s internal power struggles. Möbius had long thought that they were being sent to the Wedge Tower against their will.
Most of those that had been sent in the past fit that description. After they completed their assigned time at the Wedge Tower, having accomplished nothing, they would return to the Mage Association. To them, the Wedge Tower must have appeared like a place they could lay low for a while until things blew over.
But the Dream Mage, Caspar Hütter, was different.
One could say this year’s crop of Apprentices contained many who lacked the fundamental knowledge to be a mage, or any basic education for that matter. Yet Hütter refused to abandon them, guiding them with grit and passion.
When conflicts brewed among the Apprentices between the Classical and Modern Schools, he watched calmly and gently nudged them to solve the issues on their own accord.
Furthermore, when he had time free, he would use it to visit the directors of other Offices across the Wedge Tower to strike up conversations on the Apprentices’ career guidance.
He was even concerned for his students’ careers.
If Hütter wished to remain and formally become a member of the Wedge Tower in the future, Möbius privately considered asking him to be the Assistant Director of the Guidance Office.
If they could all make it back in one piece, he would love to go drinking with Hütter and Otto again.
While flight magic was convenient, it was an incredibly mana-intensive form of magecraft. As a result, he only used it when crossing steep inclines, and moved on horseback whenever possible.
Just a little bit more until he reached the Wedge Tower. Möbius had been staying the night at an inn, expecting to arrive the next day, when he awoke in the middle of night to the cries of birds. He flew out of the inn and activated flight magic.
The voice of a young woman echoed across the sky.
“— I speak to all the children of men. From here on, the Wedge Tower will be filled with mana to become a stronghold for us, the people of the Abyss! If you don’t wish to die an early death, retreat at once!”
(The Wedge Tower’s under attack, of all things…?)
The flock of birds circling in the skies above the Wedge Tower were Eyeball Birds, with eyeballs visible on their wings.
And leading them was a Harpy, the Eyeball Bird’s sworn enemy — it seemed like there was a survivor.
“This land will soon become flush with mana, and the Wall will disappear in three days’ time. Then we will have true freedom.”
Hearing the orange Harpy’s words, Möbius boiled with rage.
True freedom? How could you say that when there’s a girl who will never know freedom because of you things?
…He had to wipe out every last Monster.
“Let’s go, Ignatius.”
A reply echoed in his mind.
—Kill kill kill! Kill the Monsters! Kill kill kill! Don’t leave a single one alive! Kill the Monsters! Kill the Monsters! The Monsters, the Monsters…!
Unlike the other Ancient Magical Artifacts, ‘Ignatius, the Severer’ didn’t make an audible voice. Instead, it spoke directly into its user’s mind.
Constantly. For as long as he held the sword, ‘Ignatius, the Severer’ continually whispered for him to kill the Monsters.
Never once had Möbius found it to be a bother. Because the voice of ‘Ignatius, the Severer’ was no different from his own thoughts.
(I have to kill all the Monsters.)
No matter the hardship, even if his limbs were torn off, there were things he had to protect.
The Wedge Tower. And, Fiene.
Speeding towards the Wedge Tower with flight magic, Möbius set his sights on the circling bird Monsters and prepared to let loose a series of wind blades… but, almost the exact moment he cast them, arrows of lightning came flying at terrifying speed to shoot down his blades of wind.
As far as Möbius knew, the only person capable of such a feat was the Hundred-Eyes Witch, Anneliese Röhm.
Möbius crested the outer walls, and traced the path of the lightning arrows. There, he found the form of Röhm standing on top of the First Spire: White Smoke.
Her body appeared strange, with crystals embedded in her as she squared off against Director Haydn of the Extermination Office.
Möbius was often told that he was ‘dense’ and ‘slow on the uptake’ in his daily life, but on the battlefield he was quicker to ascertain the situation than anyone else.
It was Assistant Headmaster Miriam who had said ‘Your mind only works on the battlefield, doesn’t it?’
(So the Hundred-Eyes Witch has turned to the Monsters’ side, has she?)
Röhm’s signature ability was a counterattack that could instantaneously shoot down her enemies’ magical attacks.
So long as she was on the battlefield, just about all magical attacks would be nullified.
Naturally, Röhm’s magecraft could target her opponents who used flight magic as well. The only reason such an attack was not coming right now must have been because her hands were already too full with everything else.
Röhm currently had every mage in the Wedge Tower in the palm of her hand, blocking all of their attacks as she fought with Haydn.
(If magical attacks are ineffective, then…)
Möbius ran his sword through a nearby Eyeball Bird, then grabbed tightly onto the legs of its corpse. Then, he approached near to Röhm and hurled the Eyeball Bird’s carcass at her with all his might.
“—!?”
While she could react to magical attacks, she had no answer for attacks that involved no mana. That was the weakness of Röhm’s magecraft.
Röhm, pummeled by the Eyeball Bird, collapsed onto the roof.
“LUUAAAAA!!”
At the same time, the orange-haired Harpy came flying towards him from behind. Her intense fury must be born from revenge for him killing her compatriots at Breakneck Gorge.
If she wants to hold a grudge, then so be it. He had plenty of grudges against Monsters himself.
Möbius spun around with flight magic and swung his sword. The Harpy dodged it by a hair’s breadth.
The Ancient Magical Artifact ‘Ignatius, the Severer’ was a sword that had been specially designed for slaying Monsters. Any wounds this blade inflicted on Monsters would never heal, making almost all wounds fatal. That Harpy knew this, so she focused on evading.
“I must eradicate all Monsters. All of them.”
He had to make a world without Monsters, as soon as possible.
He had to make a world without the Wall.
(If I don’t eradicate all the Monsters, Fiene will never be free.)
The moment the Harpy opened the distance, a flock of Eyeball Birds bore down on him. Were they trying to overpower him with numbers?
Möbius silently swung his sword, cutting through the Eyeball Birds. When fighting with flight magic, it was important never to stay still. You never knew if an attack was going to come at you from the ground.
“Headmaster! I’ll handle the skies!”
Haydn, similarly flying around with flight magic, roared. If he, the Director of the Extermination Office said so, then it was surely fine to leave matters to him.
Möbius’ priority was Fiene. Without Fiene, the Wall sealing the Monsters couldn’t be maintained. Monsters would invade the entire Empire.
As he cut down the Eyeball Birds, Möbius descended to notice the unusual mana density around him. The mana was growing denser than it should ever be able to.
First, he should clear a path for people to evacuate from the Tower. To that end, Möbius cut, cut, cut, and cut. As he did, he heard a furious growl.
“Out of the way, you stupid birds!!”
Charging towards him with a shout was a massive wolf with a silver pelt — the Primordial Beast.
Möbius maintained his flight magic to hover just off of the ground, dodging his enemies’ attacks as he swung his sword. The Primordial Beast kicked off the ground and leapt to dodge the tip of ‘Ignatius, the Severer.’
“A sword that will kill me if it lands a single hit… I like those kinds of things; the culmination of someone’s passion and obsession. And for you to wield it so naturally, that tells me a lot about you, huh?”
The Primordial Beast’s voice was filled with enjoyment.
This Monster, the progenitor of all Werewolves and obsessed with battling strong fighters, showed respect to human martial and magical prowess, as well as the talent it took to create weapons and magical devices. It was not unlike a human who had dedicated his life to honing his martial art.
…Yet, nevertheless, a Monster was but a Monster.
This silver wolf had once left a scar on the face of Möbius’ comrade Leona Ohlendorf. Thanks to it, she was ‘marked,’ leading to her being locked away at the Ohlendorf household.
(In Leona’s stead, I will slay it.)
The Primordial Beast’s body twisted upwards. This was a sign it was about to lunge at him. Möbius cut down an Eyeball Bird that had drawn close and tipped the end of his blade.
—However, the moment of impact never came.
“Hold on.”
Without a sound, a new form appeared.
It was a young person with white hair neatly cut at chin-length and wearing a black robe. The black of its robe blended in with the darkness of night, leaving only its pale face to appear as if it was floating in midair.
In the gloom of the garden at night, the Monster’s eyes glowed silver.
The white-haired Monster reached into its robe to pull something out. They were rivets made of crystals. The Monster removed one, then two rivets and dropped them on the ground.
—Fear dominated the scene, centered on this Monster. He felt an intense discomfort, as if the emotion of fear itself groped directly at his head.
Möbius understood at once. This was it. This was the one that had emerged from the deepest pits of the Abyss, the King of Monsters.
He saw an illusion, as if something deep inside that black robe was beckoning to him. If he looked directly at it, it would consume his mind. This was that sort of being.
Möbius averted his eyes, noticing the presence of a Werewolf standing at attention behind the King of Monsters, carrying two humans on its shoulders.
“Miriam, Linke…”
The black Werewolf laid the two bodies on the ground. Its motions were awfully delicate for a Monster.
It was clear that Linke, Director of the Library Office, wasn’t breathing. On the other hand, Miriam had aged dramatically, but her fingers were still twitching faintly.
“I wish to offer the proper rites to those who have devoted themselves to their faith.”
Möbius frowned at the King of Monsters’ words.
“…Is that your obsession?”
Monsters held obsessions towards humans.
Monsters slurped up human flesh and blood; they adored culture; they wished for tests of strength… and the King of Monsters held an obsession with human faith.
But Möbius knew well. Humans and Monsters were fundamentally different creatures. No matter how much a Monster imitated human culture, it was all a facade. They would never be able to shake off the uncanniness.
Thus, Möbius could say with certainty:
“Faith is something far beyond a Monster’s understanding.”
He had to settle things. Here and now, he had to put an end to everything.
As if sliding across the ground, Möbius closed the distance, bringing ‘Ignatius, the Severer’ to bear.
An elegant leg sweep, followed by the weight of his steel sword. With one clean motion from a man who had mastered both techniques, he aimed for the King of Monsters’ neck.
Möbius had taken stock of the positions of every Monster on the ground and in the air. Even the Primordial Beast, for all its physical prowess, could not interfere with this one attack.
—Regardless, his blade never reached its mark.
“……Ah?”
Ten crystal blades emerged from the ground. They blocked the attack from ‘Ignatius, the Severer,’ and impaled through Möbius’ body.