Sorcery Hacker >> Divulge The Magic Vulnerability Volume 1 Chapter 6

There was only one thing to do now.

"Let's get out of here."

After confirming that Demon Lord Nirvelphany was holding the old man in her arms, Ayato Criminaltrophy jumped down from the stage with his Linkage Plug sword in hand. But would the crowd use their numbers to restrain the criminal?

Of course not.

The crowd was unarmed and he was armed. And those ordinary people could not tell that his weapon was meant for Sorcery Hacking and could not actually do much direct harm. They cried out in alarm and parted in front of him. It was amusing to see a Moneylender get separated from his bodyguards and shoved around as people took out their daily frustrations on him. Ayato's group ran to their destination before the crowd could regain their cool.

"Nirvelphany, can you use that orbital sorcery cannon again!?"

The woman in red leather shrank down a bit while holding the old man, but then…

"Stay back unless you wish to be blown to smithereens!! I am the great Demon Lord Nirvelphany and I will not hesitate to fire my diabolical cannon from the heavens!!"

The crowd froze in place. Whether or not she really was the Demon Lord, they had seen that attack from the heavens break through the Guardian Umbrella. But Ayato had noticed her brief hesitation.

…He could not count on that anymore. They had to find some other way to escape the army pushing in toward them. And with that in mind, there was no way they could escape Light Castle Brightio on foot.

For one thing, Teleria, Mamilis, and Henrietta were still up in the towers.

So…

"Get on, get on!! Let's take this thing for a spin!!"

A giant object had fallen surprisingly close by. It looked like a wide isosceles triangle made from several thin, bat-like wings. That flight device measured 30 esoule[1] wide and it was known as an Armored Dragon.

Level 32 was pretty high, but he could easily cover that after arriving at the castle with Level 20 and hacking high-level knights and flight devices during the battle.

Whatever it might be, a Sorcery Hacker could hijack any product of magic as long as they had the necessary level.

He stabbed his sword in, pulled the trigger, and then yanked the grip back, leaving the blade behind.

He finished hacking it by interfering with the mist mana circulating through the sorcery device just as Nirvelphany hopped onto the bat-like wings.

"The old man is on too! We're ready when you are!!"

"Y-you fool!! I told you to live the life you want to live, but your life is essentially over after opposing Celedileka like this!!"

"Oh, shut up!! How many times do I have to tell you this is what I want to do!? I am not interested in the concepts of good and evil that you humans have invented to bind the ma.s.ses! I am not about to turn my back on the decision I made for myself!!"

The device itself was thin, but if you placed your arms or legs on the top or bottom surface, they would stick there. It must have used some kind of gravitational control. Since they were accustomed to walking on the surface, Ayato's group chose the top surface.

"You know how to fly this thing, I hope?"

"I couldn't call myself a Sorcery Hacker if I couldn't do anything I put my mind to."

Compressed air roared as it slammed against the ground and the nearby crowd was blown away. It then twisted around to rapidly ascend and fly toward the top of the towers. They were soon attacked by the knights who had been pummeled by the shockwave but still managed to stay airborne with their rotating wing crafts.

"What now, Sorcery Hacker!?"

"This thing is a lot bigger than them, so we can break right through them if we ram them!!"

The girls had been hit by the orbital sorcery cannon's shockwave, but they had come to in the short time since.

Ayato first crashed through the bottom of the small pieces of rubble suspended in midair to destroy them while picking up Henrietta who was on top of them. Artificial gravity created via sorcery made sure the Striker's body stuck to the smooth surface of the craft like it was a giant magnet.

"Whoa."

There was no time to listen to her complaints. The impact of the collision had altered the Armored Dragon's course a fair bit, so he directed it toward one of the towers. Ayato and Henrietta reached out to grab Teleria and Mamilis as they flew past.

After feeling their weight in their arms, they lifted the Armored Dragon's nose.

They shot upwards and flew out above the ostentatious castle.

"Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah!! Wahhhhhh!!!???"

The blonde girl flailed her legs wildly, but Ayato managed to pull her up and hold her in his arms. Henrietta easily collected the Dark Elf.

He had neglected to control the Armored Dragon while dealing with Teleria, so it veered off course. They lost the alt.i.tude they had gained and nearly crashed into the ground.

"Dammit!!"

Ayato frantically focused on the crystal tarot card Linkage Monitor floating in the air and regained control of the Armored Dragon.

"Where are we!? It looks like we've flown past the castle walls at least!!"

"Coach, I think this is Water Castle Town Aquaria," said Dark Elf Mamilis.

Either she had not had time or she no longer cared because she had not hidden her distinctive long ears.

This was a town of boats. The entire area was covered in water that reflected the sunny and starry sky and countless boats of various sizes floated there to form a town. No, the water's currents had far surpa.s.sed the pull of gravity. The water looked too crowded to actually navigate any of the boats, but a ma.s.sive amount of water formed giant arches reminiscent of rainbow bridges and the boats used those to move around. It looked a lot like a giant arm reaching down to a flat diorama and rearranging the miniature houses.

They flew through there at high alt.i.tude.

They sometimes just barely avoided the sails of a large ship and sometimes slipped below a giant steamboat lifted up by a water arch.

Their max speed was about 80 Scuz[2]. The only faster flying devices were the largescale airships that rode the manaflows in the atmosphere. They were moving fast enough to tear through the air, but they did not have to worry about frictional heat, air resistance, inertia, or anything like that. Celedileka's sorcery devices were most suited for use in the sky.

"I think there was a model of one of these in my grandma's room," said silver-haired Mamilis while she reached her chocolate-colored hand to the side. Her fingers easily s.n.a.t.c.hed a white seabird from the air just above the water.

Yes, even though they were moving faster than a train.

"It really does work just like grandma's designs said. When the powerful safety is in effect, you can ignore the relative speeds, Coach. We shouldn't have to worry about hurting ourselves."

"Tch. I really wish I could have met her before leaving the city. That is some impressive talent."

She made it sound so simple, but that meant the riders could tear away the opponent's weapons and armor while moving at these speeds. It was basically cheating.

(Now, I've got a decent idea of what this area is like.)

Whatever the case, rescuing Nirvelphany and the old man would require escaping Sky City Celedileka as a whole.

"Ahh," groaned Thomas in Nirvelphany's arms.

"Don't look so reluctant to leave this city," she said while he stared blankly out from her arms. "I will show you what you can find on that vast blue planet. This isolated and artificial land is not everything. You may have given up on this world, but I will show you just how vast, strange, and beautiful it can be!! That much I can promise you!!"

He may have already seen that. When he was driven to the edge, several people had gathered to pick a fight with the regional monarchy itself. That may have begun the process of truly saving him.

Although Ayato was not cra.s.s enough to say that out loud.

They had just the one destination for now:

"The outer edge and outside!! Hold on, everyone!!"

"That is fine, but look behind us, dangerous individual!!"

Henrietta shouted something odd.

Ayato had been busy using the arrangement of crystal tarot cards to gradually stabilize their flight, but he finally had enough time to look back.

And there he saw it.

"Another Armored Dragon is pursuing us!" said the Striker. "And it's moving oddly! This is no normal flight!!"

Armored Dragons were large even for flight devices, so it could easily shake free of the personal gliders or rotating wing crafts that used a propeller on the top and back of the exposed c.o.c.kpit. That meant only another Armored Dragon could pursue them.

But all of the flight devices supplied through the standard route should have been knocked from the sky by the shockwave and blizzard caused by the orbital sorcery cannon. A Sky Pirate girl with an eyepatch and miniskirt had used the confusion to steal and patch up a broken flight device to use herself, but who was this person who had forcibly s.n.a.t.c.hed up a different crashed Armored Dragon to pursue them? Ayato could only think of one person with this strong an obsession with avoiding failure here.

Namely…

"It's that High Priest. Isn't he a little old to be playing a game of chicken!?"

And.

The reddish-brown Minotaur visiting Earth Castle Down Grouviv gave a sharp breath as a habit carried over from when he was human. It was apparently meant as a whistle, but his bull head meant he could not pull it off properly.

"I knew it."

A purple b.u.t.terfly flew down.

That unnatural night b.u.t.terfly glittered with bewitching lace and colorful gems. In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a purple-haired woman in a cla.s.sic maid uniform.

"Do you really intend to take that on yourself?"

"I really wish I could have gone in and put a stop to that Temple Moving Ceremony with nothing but the power of my fists, but that wasn't an option. Ayato's group took the main dish. They're the stars this time, so taking the backstage role is just right for me. Also, I already had a hunch this was the place."

He sounded carefree, but an odd change was occurring in front of him.

The ground bubbled up with an orange light and then a sinister pillar of lava burst up with an intensity not even seen in the fire town. As soon as it came in contact with the air, it cooled, took shape, and became an enormous eight-legged horse with a scorching-hot body.

It was so huge he had to look up at it.

The bull man focused on the two holsters hanging from his zipper-covered pants.

" 'It was a golden horse carrying death and a holy follower adorned with glittering gems.' So this is what the Demon Lord's seal was once you get down to it: an ancient sorcery device that used gravitational control to give shape to lava. It wasn't enough to kill Nirvelphany even after the Hero's attack weakened her, but it could take her inside and harden around her to seal her. And with herself as a hostage within the lava that messes with magnetic and thermal sensors, she couldn't roast it with her orbital weapon."

"I may not be one to talk, but being able to withstand temperatures of 2000 embers[3] is completely insane."

"Yeah, it really is."

With a neigh like a steam engine, it raised its front legs and lifted its upper body to a height of more than 100 esoule[4]. A female party tried to get involved out of some strange sense of justice, but the Minotaur gave a roar to chase off the Paladin with a soundproofed shield and the Samurai with a single-shot gun hidden in the grip of her sword. Then he spoke before the ma.s.sive monster.

"It always seemed odd that Earth Castle Town Grouviv was the only one that had 'nothing', but I guess it was a supply base holding all the weapons and provisions the royal castle might need. It just never got much use with how long Sky City Celedileka has known peace."

Ayato himself had said the military facilities were the first to be abandoned in a peaceful castle that was not a front line fortress. This was the same idea for the city-state as a whole.

The earth town could easily store plenty of the manconducting silver needed for weapons, as well as the sorcery gun ammunition and the various kinds of jewels that were concentrated from the underground gemflows. They may have also been stocking up on the toxic liquid known as rock water or petroleum and converting it into weapons. This was the perfect place for that.

And now they were releasing that giant lava horse in order to capture Nirvelphany. Magic did not activate on its own, so did the command come from the Forturiana Church which had dug this thing up and stored it? They may have been hoping to defeat the Demon Lord themselves to make their lie a reality, but it went without saying what would happen if that ma.s.s of lava charged into a densely populated area.

Unlike the other landma.s.ses that floated around restlessly and were easily distorted, the Static Continent they called home did not budge even after many long years. The people who lived there were bound by equally strong ties while they lived together in harmony.

That cheap propaganda came to the Minotaur's mind while he viewed this product of human greed.

The entire idea was absurd.

"I no longer care about a comfortable palace, a mountain of art in the gallery, or shiny armor and a crown."

That was why the Minotaur had come here.

No, why the First Prince of the Selected Kingdoms' Combined Royal Family had come here.

"But I'm not about to abandon the right to have my way and strike down evil. My name is Liberca Bran Zorca Totalinus. Did you think a foolish traitor's toy could rob everyone of their homes and livelihoods while the First Prince watched on!?"

After that attempt to look cool, the maid calmly tugged on his tail.

"Hold it, you narcissist."

"Gyawah! Don't grab me there, you idiot! It hurts like h.e.l.l!!"

"How rude. You make it sound like I was unaware of that fact."

"How would a tailless b.u.t.terfly woman understand how this feels!?"

The maid spoke calmly to the man whose dignified atmosphere had been stolen.

"Just accept it already. You always keep those royal blades with you, so ever since I recognized you as a royal, you will never again have a chance to fight alone."

"…Is that so?"

That was all he said as he reached for the holsters at his hips.

What he drew from there were two old-fashioned swords instead of sorcery guns.

They were cla.s.sified as domino-effect apocalypse-inducing chain-reaction weapons and they were named b.u.t.terfly Effector.

The two of them spoke in unison.

"The flapping of my b.u.t.terfly wings is a very small thing."

"But it's time you saw what the small things can bring to this world, you hunk of junk!!"

Forturiana High Priest Belbath Ruin Cranky was pursuing them, so Ayato's Armored Dragon changed course again. They soared past some Dragon Knights flying small, tamed dragons and they continued to pick up speed.

Fortunately, the powerful safety measures meant none of them would be thrown from the wide isosceles triangle no matter how wildly he swung it around. So he sometimes flew just barely below a water arch, sometimes slipped between the sails of the many ships, and sometimes flipped upside down to stab his Sorcery Hacking sword into a small ship's smokestack.

"What's the point of that!?" shouted Nirvelphany while holding Thomas Robergin.

"You never know when it'll come in handy!!"

Even a small boat would have a processing s.p.a.ce of Level 20 or 30. By connecting those together, he could reach the triple digits in no time. It grew at an accelerating rate from there, so the sailing ships that read the wind direction and automatically adjusted the sails would be from 300 to 400 and the steamships with external propulsion devise that resembled giant waterwheels could be 1000 each. Ships could support themselves just by floating in the water instead of needing arms or wings, so they really were the greatest of vehicles. No sorcery devices came in greater sizes.

While Ayato stabbed his Linkage Plug sword around, separated off the blades, and let out new blades from those compressed in the hilt, Teleria asked him a question in something of a scream.

"We aren't losing the High Priest at all! Ayato, can't you do something with your Sorcery Hacking!?"

"Directly firing on him with a sorcery gun would be difficult. That artificial bell cricket on his shoulder is compressing the air over a wide area to create a soundproof s.p.a.ce."

"Coach, I saw the designs for that in my grandma's room. I think it's called the Bell Ringing. It was based on the anti-grenade nets used in trench warfare. It was supposed to be a large device for an entire base, so she had trouble figuring out how to make it the size of a slipper. It should be able to cover between 120 and 180 degrees in front of it by subtly changing the angle of its thin wings."

They received a hint from an unexpected source. He wished all the more he could have met that engineer.

The Demon Lord's eyes widened too.

"At any rate, we have no way of circling behind that shield while he flies straight toward us. Our sorcery guns will only be deflected!"

"Are you sure about that, Demon Lord? That Bell Ringing prototype isn't a sorcery gun. If Miss Mamilis is right, then it was originally meant for use in a stationary land base. That means there should be some distortion in the defended area while its coordinates change during high-speed movement. Belbath himself might be covered, but we can still bring down the Armored Dragon to lose him. And more importantly!"

Something about this did not add up.

They gathered what information they had while flying around the water town on the Armored Dragon.

"When that High Priest was certain of his victory, he said I was the MVP who prevented Demon Lord Nirvelphany's escape or return. He seemed happier about Nirvelphany interrupting the ceremony than if the execution had played out without a hitch. Why?"

"W-well, the Forturiana Church believes in benevolent coincidence, so wouldn't capturing the top of the demons feel like a stroke of good luck?" suggested Teleria.

"You think Forturiana loathes Demon Lord Nirvelphany?" Ayato operated his floating crystal tarot cards to focus on the hijacked Armored Dragon. "Even though that church rapidly grew in power by donating to magic research…specifically, to the development of modern sorcery guns? Now, who is it that supports the entire system of magic?"

Just then, a sound like erupting steam reached them from behind.

Teleria screamed while ducking her head down.

A long narrow trail of white smoke shot by directly overhead. The projectile filled empty s.p.a.ce with pitch black darkness and then compressed the surrounding scenery toward the center of the explosion.

It looked like a giant ma.s.s of gravity, but Ayato immediately realized what it was.

"A bazooka!? Why is the privileged cla.s.s swiping all these weapons!?"

The sorcery gun resting on the shoulder opposite the bell cricket looked a lot like a grenade launcher, but while a grenade would cause the specified magic to self-replicate and explosively expand, a bazooka forcibly absorbed the surrounding mana and used that energy to explosively expand. In other words, it would tear apart living creatures and machines alike before blasting the dried-out remains with the external explosion.

They had been made to destroy military sorcery devices, so it was hardly surprising they had such a brutal design. They could only count themselves lucky it was not a guided variety.

"We can't keep dodging those forever!!" warned the Demon Lord.

"Bazookas are still a type of sorcery gun. The volume of the gunshot is linked to the effective range, so he has to bring down his puny shield to fire it. More importantly, Nirvelphany, complain if you like, but what happened to your anti-dragon rifle!?"

"Does it look like I still have it? I literally have my hands full carrying this old man, so I left everything else in that plaza!"

"Nh!"

"Don't bother, Miss Mamilis. Shoot down the explosive within that shotgun's range and we'll be caught in the blast! Miss Teleria, you handle it!!"

"Oh, honestly! Do you have any idea how tricky it is to shoot down a bazooka round with a handgun!?"

The blonde girl complained, but she still readied her dual handguns. Then she fired ice spears toward the explosives flying their way. Instead of sniping them at specific points, she fired across the entire region to shoot them down and detonate them. This was all thanks to magic, but they could not exactly celebrate. The scenery would be pulled in toward a single point and then the explosion would occur. A direct hit from that would wipe them all out at once.

Ayato glanced over at the empty sh.e.l.ls blowing away in the wind while he calmly a.n.a.lyzed the situation.

(This isn't very efficient. At this rate, we'll probably run out of ammo first.)

They needed a more fundamental solution and he wanted as much info as possible for that. Knowing what drove High Priest Belbath to pursue them like this might help them predict his actions.

He could not let the impact of the bazooka distract him. He had to calm down and recall their discussion from just before that.

(Magic…yes, magic!)

Anyone could see how out of place that word seemed here.

These people were supposedly spreading the "holy word", so wasn't this an odd sort of thing for them to be proudly showing off?

"What even is the Light-Dark Duality? The world only has the four elements of fire, water, wind, and earth! The colorless mana gains those elemental colors by synchronizing with the higher beings scattered in the four directions! People might not care about those old tomes now that they only need to pull a trigger, but it was Demon Lord Nirvelphany who added a bit of 'fun' into that perfect system, effectively ignoring those four great beings and allowing us to do whatever we want in this world!!"

And when you calculated it out, you would find that those "four directions" went well beyond the Static Continent. It was a reminder of just how small they were in the grand scheme of things.

The tricky part was how Nirvelphany's power was not a fixed value at the top. It was an uncertain factor.

That was what allowed her to break through the upper limits of the world set by those four rulers, but it was also what left her vulnerable enough to be defeated and sealed by human hands. If they had been up against those four elemental rulers themselves, people would have realized how silly it was to challenge them with magic. No matter how many shots they fired, they could never bring them down.

"Hold on. Is that what this is about!?" Nirvelphany spoke up in displeasure while Ayato flew the Armored Dragon below a giant water arch. "There are only four elements in the world and we demons play a large role in their creation. But the Forturiana Church invented the light and dark elements to create an explanation where humans are on top! That's why they can't allow an explanation with only the four elements! So were they trying to cover up the truth by silencing the Hero and the Demon Lord during their Temple Moving Ceremony? All to protect their cheap illusion of a nonexistent element of light!?"

"If you want to get technical, you could be seen as the one and only element of darkness or non-elemental being since your possibilities cannot be controlled by those four elemental rulers!!"

Just as he said that, Ayato forcibly lifted up the giant isosceles triangle craft. It was a lot like a horse rearing up and he used it to rapidly brake.

High Priest Belbath's identical Armored Dragon tore through the air as it shot by.

And Ayato raised his voice just as they pa.s.sed by in the air.

"Miss Mamilis!!"

"Got it, Coach."

The full-auto shotgun produced countless red muzzle flashes. Primary Blaze was the most basic form of fire magic, but it was more than enough of a threat at that density.

Pieces tore up from the surface of the High Priest's Armored Dragon, but it did not fall yet.

In fact, Belbath managed to escape out ahead. The Dark Elf's distinctive long ears shook as the old man escaped beyond the range of her full-auto shotgun.

And…

"The bazooka is coming again!!"

"Perfect. Let's move in close."

The High Priest shot the bazooka backwards and it flew straight toward them while trailing white smoke.

"Kyahh!!"

"We're fine!!"

Teleria screamed, so Ayato held her in one arm to calm her down while accelerating the Armored Dragon and letting the approaching weapon pa.s.s by just barely overhead.

No matter what definition you used, Nirvelphany's presence could not be used to prove the existence of an element of light itself.

And if darkness existed without light, that would only be a bigger problem for Forturiana. Enough of one that they would lose the unifying power to pull off an event like the Temple Moving Ceremony.

That would leave no way to prove the existence of light without doing exactly what they themselves forbade: doubting the very existence of benevolent coincidence and a.n.a.lyzing things instead.

The two Armored Dragons moved in close.

Now it was Ayato's turn. He focused on his Linkage Plug sword in addition to the crystal tarot cards.

"The other sects try to explain the creation of the world through harmony of the four elements, but Forturiana has gathered greater popularity through their simpler Light-Dark Duality. They can't let it get out that the element of light doesn't exist!"

Mamilis's full-auto shotgun gave another roar, but there was more of a distance now. The barrage of explosive flames did not quite reach the High Priest's Armored Dragon. However, the High Priest's bell cricket soundproof barrier really did not seem to be working properly while moving around at such high speeds.

Ayato and Belbath glared at each other, but their voices could not reach other at this distance and among all the explosions. The Bell Ringing prototype's effect also served to distort the sound between them.

This must have been an unpleasant surprise for the High Priest as well.

It had happened during the leadup to their delicate Temple Moving Ceremony.

All official records had been lost, so no one knew where in the Selected Kingdoms the sealed shrine was located. Also, the seal could not be broken from within. If no one knew where it was, then Nirvelphany's slumber was essentially eternal. And yet this had happened.

They had actively oppressed the demons because they did not want the other humans to find out they were borrowing the demons' power. They also wanted the demons themselves to forget they were lending out their power. Yes, just like an abused child or old person would become convinced it was their own fault, the long, long history of oppression was meant to make them more withdrawn and weak-willed.

The four elemental lords never made an appearance and never spoke with the humans.

So they could be silenced by crushing the smaller demons who could possibly bring their words to the humans.

But the ancient Demon Lord Nirvelphany could not be oppressed like that. She might just destroy all who opposed her, regather the scattered demons, and reclaim their strength as a great army. She had the greatest power, but she also had the ability to pour out all her efforts for a single human, so her actions were nigh impossible to predict. There was always a risk of her breaking her way directly into human society and revealing the truth instead of using the smaller demons as messengers.

Forturiana could not allow the truth to get out.

However, Nirvelphany would not be so easily captured once she was unsealed. They could not predict how she would act.

So they had stolen that freedom from her.

They had gone all in. The date of the Temple Moving Ceremony could not be changed and, because it was a setup, there was no coming back if it failed. They had needed to incorporate a conspiracy into their own precious event.

By ordering the old man arrested and executed, they had tried to redirect and guide Nirvelphany's actions so they could capture her.

(Miss Mamilis's shots are preventing the High Priest from firing his bazooka because he will be caught in the blast if one is shot too close to him. This is our chance to get close!!)

"Forturiana has been putting out sketchy-looking ads related to magic. Things like overuse of magic giving you a disease from the recoil, or being allergic to mana. But I've never heard of that happening to anyone."

"Of course you haven't. Mana itself circulates through all living things, so it would take an extremely high density before your body could detect it as an abnormality."

"Exactly right, Demon Lord. That means they're having to take desperate measures to gather followers. I bet their finances are in the red. They say they have the favor of the royals in this city, but that may be the problem. If they've picked up a ridiculously expensive lifestyle, they'll start running the business into the ground. Ha ha. That explains why they needed an event like the Temple Moving Ceremony."

The enormous sailing ships and steamboats had much higher levels than sorcery vehicles and airships. A group of ones between 300 esoule[5] and 400 esoule[6] were packed in close on the water's surface. Ayato attacked them to increase his processing s.p.a.ce like a runaway s...o...b..ll, so he quickly reached the quadruple digits. If he could directly stab it with his sword, he could hack the Bell Ringing prototype on High Priest Belbath's shoulder or the man's large Armored Dragon itself.

(I'm not going to let this go to waste.)

He only had to get closer.

If only he could move in!!

(I'm between Level 6000 and 7000 now. No, it's still growing! He's earned the favor of the king to abuse the entire sky city's infrastructure and create a tiny fortress for himself, but I'll drag him out of there and destroy him!!)

"Nirvelphany."

"Yes?"

"Only four elements exist. Whatever benevolent coincidences might exist, they don't come from the element of light that High Priest speaks of. Revealing that fact would ruin him and the Forturiana Church. They might want to redo their Temple Moving Ceremony, but I doubt the king would let them at that point. This might be cruel to the ordinary believers, but I'm going to make that church pay for everything they've done. …So this is a personal question: would you be satisfied with that?"

She looked confused.

An then she answered him.

"I won't be satisfied until I've punched him myself."

"I had a feeling. Doing that does feel good."

Driven by the dense barrage of explosive flames coming from long-eared Mamilis's full-auto shotgun sorcery gun, High Priest Belbath's Armored Dragon rapidly braked.

"I knew this was coming soon!!"

The slipper-sized bug did not function properly during rapid movement, so this was his only chance at survival. Ayato had been in the same position earlier. By braking and letting the pursuer pa.s.s you, you could switch out the positions of attacker and defender. But you could deal with that if you knew it was coming.

Ayato touched his crystal tarot cards.

His Armored Dragon shot forward, but twisted around to flip upside down. The two Armored Dragons pa.s.sed by while nearly touching in an acrobatic stunt. The two 35 esoule[7] crafts were a mere 2 esoule[8] apart.

While one was upside down and the other was not, they effectively existed in the same s.p.a.ce.

Ayato and Belbath's eyes met.

The boy in the blue blazer remained upside down as he moved to stab his Linkage Plug sword into the creepy bell cricket on the High Priest's shoulder.

"You think I'll let you, traitor!?" roared the High Priest.

An intense vibration followed. He could no longer trust the slipper-sized bell cricket, so he forcibly twisted the Armored Dragon around so its wing would hit theirs.

That one second seemed to stretch out for an eternity as Ayato lost his chance and the two crafts lost their balance. Ayato was forced to pour all his attention into the crystal tarot cards to ensure they did not crash.

The next thing he knew, the two crafts were flying alongside each other.

"Living in fear of the truth can't be fun. You've grown so bloated with shame that it's impossible to see who you even are anymore, High Priest!!"

"Don't make me laugh, sinner. The Temple Moving Ceremony will provide a solid foundation for the Forturiana Church and that old man must be executed for that. Failure is not an option here!"

"I thought churches were supposed to be divine inst.i.tutions. Since when did a human like you get to call the shots?"

"The truth is preserved by the king and spread by the Forturiana Church!! You need only open your mouths and accept the truth we provide you! That will ensure happiness for all the people!!"

"The truth has more weight than that. I may be a shameless Sorcery Hacker crawling through the depths of the earth, but let me make something clear. No matter what you theatrically read from your script and no matter what anyone in the world believes, you can only alter public opinion. It might be hidden in the shadows of history, but the truth is always out there! We've worked hard to overcome our interspecies differences, so I'm not letting you tear down those bonds just to protect some fantasy about a nonexistent element of light!!!!!!"

It was Striker Henrietta who grimaced at that.

"(I-is this really the High Priest who supposedly wishes for the wellbeing of the people? Does he think the entire Forturiana Church belongs to him?)"

Had Belbath realized he had let this slip out in his anger, or did he think he could silence a mere Striker?

Despite their close range, the High Priest lifted the cylindrical bazooka back up onto the shoulder opposite the bell cricket. Dark Elf Mamilis aimed her full-auto shotgun at the other Armored Dragon in response.

Both weapons fired at once and crimson muzzle flashes blossomed out.

Belbath's own bazooka sh.e.l.l was shot down quite near him, so his own Armored Dragon's wing was caught in and torn off by the attack that gathered a portion of the scenery toward a central point. However, lots of shrapnel flew through the air at the same time.

Nirvelphany immediately moved to protect the old man who had saved her.

But she felt no pain.

She hesitantly opened her eyes to see the blonde girl standing in front of them like a shield with her arms crossed in front of her.

"I…won't let you."

She protected her face with the two hands holding the handguns, but a trail of red could be seen on her cheek behind that.

Demon Lord Nirvelphany.

Thomas Robergin.

That girl faced forward with a powerful desire to keep anyone from rejecting the way they had lived their lives.

"I won't let you!! Not after they've come this far! I'm sick of seeing people have everything taken from them at the very last moment!!"

The damage to the High Priest's craft actually worked in his favor. The slower speed meant he fell behind. He escaped the dangerous side-by-side position and he now had the perfect position to aim at them from behind.

But for a brief moment, those realistic problems did not even matter.

The boy felt a sharp burning in the back of his mind.

Ayato Criminaltrophy had seen the wound running along his partner's cheek. She could easily heal that with the recovery magic developed from the water magic she excelled at. There was no fear of it even leaving a scar.

But he still punched himself in the cheek with the hand holding his sword.

With a dull sound, he woke himself up further. He grabbed both his Linkage Monitor crystal tarot cards and the Sorcery Hacking sword.

If the conditions were right, he could hijack anything in which mana flowed.

"Nirvelphany, help me out here. You said you wouldn't be satisfied until you punched him yourself, right? Well, you're only going to get one shot at a cross counter."

"Let's show that b.a.s.t.a.r.d what h.e.l.l really looks like."

The Armored Dragon's wing had been torn up and, even though he still had the gem-encrusted Bell Ringing prototype on his shoulder, his old body was protesting from all over. Even so, Forturiana High Priest Belbath Ruin Cranky smiled while pursuing the sinners from behind. He of course had a plan for victory, but that plan was not the bazooka sorcery gun resting on the shoulder opposite the bell cricket.

(I do not need an effective attack myself. It seems the earth town's Sleipnir did not arrive in time, but that will not alter the result that is protected by benevolent coincidence.)

He checked their location.

This was Water Castle Town Aquaria. The sinners were trying to lose pursuit, escape Sky City Celedileka, and fly out into the open sky beyond the city.

(But that is a deadly barrier.)

Sky City Celedileka controlled more than just the floating ground. Large airships equipped with tons of giant cannons were deployed around it. Their firepower was enough to drive back that crimson dragon and they would be waiting outside Aquaria right now. It could not be more obvious what would happen once that was aimed at an unprotected human.

The real horror of those cannons was not the fire and wind magic that could be enclosed in the sh.e.l.ls. By establishing a thick barrier in the sky around the sh.e.l.l, those sinners could not avoid crashing right into the barrier. It could be easy to forget given all the safety measures in place, but they were moving at 80 Scuz[9] at the moment.

The High Priest only had to pursue them to guide them toward the airships.

They were flying straight toward their death while mistakenly thinking they were escaping.

(But they cannot choose to stay inside Celedileka either. They are d.a.m.ned if they do and d.a.m.ned if they don't. There is no avoiding it!! And the worldly debts incurred will be forced onto the kingdom that fully binds the Forturiana Church with this sky city! No one can stop me now!!)

They were still accelerating.

The outer wall would come into view soon.

Their death was approaching.

The High Priest could not keep the smile off of his face.

And then the moment arrived.

The roar he heard did not come from the airships; it came from the giant dragon that had responded to Demon Lord Nirvelphany's call.

"Ahh!?"

This was not right.

That should not have been here.

Hadn't that dragon been attacking Fire Castle Town Flared? Then what was it doing here in Water Castle Town Aquaria!?

The trick itself was simple.

"A sky city can freely change direction while floating in the sky, so the cardinal directions are fairly meaningless. No matter how big it is, it's floating up here like a kite, so it can be intentionally turned with the right methods," explained Ayato Criminaltrophy while piloting his Armored Dragon. "We aren't standing on the ground; we're flying high above the surface of Celedileka. And at this alt.i.tude, the magnetic distortion renders compa.s.ses useless. There are plenty of ways of visually telling direction, but the simplest is to follow the paths set up in Water Castle Town Aquaria. If you're following a path, you tend to a.s.sume you're going straight. Human eyes are easily deceived like that."

In other words…

"I am slowly rotating Sky City Celedileka. That should allow me to avoid the airships set up for us and slide us over toward the giant dragon."

Of course, that was no easy task even with his Linkage Plug sword. Moving the sky city itself would require an absurdly high processing s.p.a.ce and level.

Fortunately, he had a source for that right in front of him: Nirvelphany.

She was the ancient Demon Lord, a legendary being.

But there was still mana circulating through her body. Mana pa.s.sed through living things as well. The healing magic that Teleria often used worked by controlling that flow to regulate the body's condition.

No further explanation was needed.

The beautiful Demon Lord let go of the old man she held and tapped her index finger on the center of her forehead.

"Hack me," said the Demon Lord.

All demons knew what she looked like, so the crimson dragon would avoid attacking the Armored Dragon she was riding.

If they brought the High Priest to the dragon, its extrlarge attack would settle this.

"It does not matter if I have any power remaining inside my body. I still have the safety devices that were meant to restrain my ma.s.sive power as the Demon Lord. When converted into your 'levels', I estimate it would reach 9999. It is useless to me at this point, but I imagine a professional Sorcery Hacker would recognize its value. Draw it out and use it as you like. If your blade can reach that far, then do not hold back. This should be enough to move the entire sky city."

Resonating with Nirvelphany's power required Level 9999 and acquiring that power would add another 9999.

If this worked, he would very nearly reach Level 20000.

He had secured more and more processing s.p.a.ce by stabbing his blades into the sails and external propulsion devices of the various ships and boats, but he had not found anywhere to use it. The larger of those ships had provided as much as 100 or even 1000 each. His power had grown at an accelerated rate, so he was finally approaching the level of the legendary Demon Lord or the entire sky city.

So he spoke.

"I am a Sorcery Hacker. There's nothing I can't do."

"Then let's bring an end to all this tragedy. I am willing to have my entire body hacked for that."

And.

"Ah."

And.

"Ahh."

And.

"Abwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!???"

The crimson dragon had been making reckless charges at the city all this time after sensing his master's lamentation, but this time he finally released a powerful beam from his maw as if expelling all of his pent-up frustrations.

Even the light of the sunny and starry sky faded away.

The result went without saying.

What did it matter if the High Priest had a gaudy, gem-encrusted bell cricket with a mere Level 799?

As that fool pursued Ayato's group, the right half of his Armored Dragon was mercilessly vaporized and the surviving wreckage and old man crashed down into the water below.