"Machine, Obey My Command!" V2 Chapter 5 - Then—He Accepted His Master's Order
"Those guys! They won't get away with this!"
Cleao shouted in a high-pitched voice as she shook her head, making her wet hair flutter. However, her body was still tied up, and was being held firmly by the golem, so she couldn't move.
Though, the fact that she couldn't move her body meant that the girl's mind only spun faster.
"Kidnapper! Brute! You should at least bathe every once in a while. "
".........."
Dortin looked up at her from the feet of the megalith and absent mindedly asked himself.
"Why is it that any time we get involved with that sorcerer, we run into people with a bad attitude...?"
They went back — to the original altar of Basilicok. Against the backdrop of the towering, framed portrait of the woman, Cleao was still being carried by the golems, all while she continued to thrash about.
"You've got to be kidding me! What's the point of you having a bunch of big idiots like this?"
"What's the point? — Oh, isn't it obvious?"
And — this voice came from Vulcan, standing behind Dortin... slumped in a tiny throne across from the altar.
He stood up from the throne and paused to thrust his finger towards her,
"The root of all evil! The enemy of all things! They are here to eliminate that loan shark sorcerer!"
"Why!?"
Cleao shouted. Vulcan smiled wide and answered with a confident laugh.
"You know, so I can get rid of my debt!"
"That's not even ambitious!"
"What? Watch it, little girl, you're no match for my faithful servant, D-Fly, Megalith Infantry No. 2!"
"I don't know how you can look so cocky while using a monster like that against a poor, helpless girl who's all tied up!"
"What! Hey, don't underestimate me! This isn't the only power I've acquired this time!"
".........."
While listening to the two bickering above him, Dortin lowered his head.
There were forgotten spaces everywhere throughout the city — small vacant lots that's now had become blind spots sandwiched between buildings, or the grassy wilderness that'd open up into a stream. Stephanie guided them to a small stone staircase on the banks of the canal. There was a bridge right in front of their eyes. As they went down, they could see it hiding just under the bridge, with the entrance open.
It was just a generic rectangular shape with nothing peculiar about it. When they entered, it led into a small room, with a small iron lid on the floor.
When they pushed the lid aside there was a vertical hole that lead down. There was an iron ladder that went straight into the depths.
"... Is this the way into the ruin?"
"Yes. To be precise, this is the entrance to a sewer. So, you can get to the ruins through the sewer.
"That sounds fine but how do I get down the ladder with all these bags on my back?"
Naturally the sewers were damp and filled with unpleasant odors. Somehow he managed to keep going, holding a handkerchief to his nose, and walked a little over an hour to a dead end. Then — at the end of the path, the wall had a large crack shaped like a hook. A closer look could tell that it had been a fraction of the size, and widened by hand, to a point that two people could walk side by side to whatever was past it.
"... I thought you said the ruins were at the bottom of the canal. Is the air safe?"
Orphen asked as he stepped through the gap, and Steph answered with her arms crossed.
"It's fine. The Nornir really took care of themselves in the battle against the Basilicok — they carved magical letters into the walls to create oxygen, so that they wouldn't run out of air even if they were buried alive... It also seems that the water from the canal can't flow into the fort. The occasional fish falls through the barrier though, and the air is a little humid."
"As long as we can breath, that's good enough. Couldn't they have at least tried to manage the stench, though?"
The gap was longer than he'd expected, and they had to walk one hundred meters through the pitch blackness. As they fumbled their way through, stepping over the damp, boggy earth — Orphen just kept trudging ahead, one step at a time.
Suddenly — light appeared in front of them.
When his foot stepped on stone instead of mud, Orphen cringed at first — then sighed now that they had finally arrived.
Basilicok—
An ancient fortress that had once been used by demigods to fight a demonic beast, and perhaps even served as their grave once they had vanished from the world—
But it didn't seem so daunting.
At first glance, the interior was quite modest — perhaps that was to be expected, given the function of the fort. The entrance from the sewer led to a passage in the fort. It was a pretty wide passage, about five meters wide. The aisle extended to the left and the right, with no doors on the walls. Just a series of straight, flat walls.
"This is the spine."
Stephanie explained as she followed Orphen into the passage.
"The Spine?"
When Orphen asked back, Stephanie nodded.
"That's what we used to call it. The ruin seemed like it was built to resemble a living thing. This passage leads to the head and the tail."
"I have to ask, what's in the head and the tail?"
"Both of them are stairs, hollow, spiral staircases. From either end you can go down to the bottom level. If you decide to go up... you go through the barrier, and should end up in the bottom of the canal."
As she explained this, Majic showed up — trying to pull his bag through the crack, at which point Orphen casually asked.
"Majic, which do you prefer, heads or tails?"
"Huh?"
Majic made a strange noise, but answered immediately with a straight face.
"I like the lower body better."
"Well, if you put it that way... I'll take the Head. Which way, Steph?"
"Right."
As she said, they turned to the right.
The passage seemed to continue on forever. It drew forward in a gentle curve rather than a straight line, so he couldn't tell where it led. This corridor is endless, Orphen thought to himself.
"Anger of the betrayed..."
"What's that?"
Majic asked. Orphen continued, without stopping or looking back.
"I'm sure you heard it too. The Killing Doll said that the anger of the betrayed is deep-rooted — especially when they are betrayed by their own fate. Somehow, I think I know what it means."
"?... What do you mean?"
".........."
Orphen remained silent as if to ignore Stephanie's question, but eventually he answered, stroking his chin with his fingertips.
"Who was betrayed, or who betrayed them?"
"Speaking of betrayal—"
Majic mumbled, not really having anything to do with the topic at hand.
"Is this really okay? — I mean all that stuff with Cleao. I'll never arbitrate anything for you guys again, because I'm the one that suffers for it most of the time."
"Ugh."
Orphen waved his hand back at Majic, and secretly stuck out his tongue.
The corridor continued on, and eventually they reached what Stephanie called the 'Head.' As she said, there was a vertical space that connected to its spine and slightly distorted to the shape of a skull. It had a narrow cylindrical shape with a spiral staircase that ran along the wall. It was maybe ten meters in diameter. When he looked up, there was no ceiling — it was gouged out as if it had been blown away by some powerful force and he could see a bright blue color. Perhaps it was the water from the canal.
— While looking up in silence, a fish fell out of the water.
"... That bastard Vulcan probably brought the megalith infantry out from here."
"But how could that big rock climb these stairs?"
"Look there-"
Orphen pointed to a pillar in the middle of the cylinder.
"They must've climbed up there."
"... That's not very dignified."
"That tanuki has no grace. Even when he got hungry, he just caught frogs from the river, boiled them in water, and ate them. Well, possibly because I stole his lunch money to cover my debt, but still..."
"What an ogre..."
After he gave Majic a good kick for the comment, Orphen started walking down the stairs with Stephanie.
"Sometimes I wonder..."
Majic caught up with him.
"How can I possibly keep up with you, Master?"
"Well, you know. Because you love me, right?"
".........."
He wasn't sure how far down the spiral staircase they had gone — But anyway, when they looked up and couldn't see the entrance that they had come from anymore, they had finally reached the bottom. The bottom of the cylinder was paved with stones, like a dungeon, and there was only one door. Orphen looked at Stephanie as if to inquire, and she answered with a nod.
"You can enter the lowest level of the fort from here. There shouldn't be any traps here. At least, I wouldn't expect someone to set a trap at the bottom of the fort."
"I guess so."
Afterwards he put his hand on the door.
"... Let's see if that's hit or miss."
"Hit or miss?"
Majic asked. Orphen grinned and continued.
"If it's the Killing Doll waiting behind this door, it's a hit, if it's Vulcan, it's a miss."
"... What if it's something we want to see even less?"
"Big miss."
Orphen answered, and pushed open the door.
... And after looking inside, he groaned.
"Game set — A big miss."
Beyond the door was an altar. A giant portrait of a green haired woman hung behind it, along with ten or so megalith infantries all lined up.
Standing at the foot of one of the golems, with her arms folded arrogantly, stood Cleao. She was accompanied by Vulcan and Dortin, at either side.
"Orphen ... I've been waiting for you."
That was the first thing Cleao said.
Orphen raised his hand slowly to reject any accusations,
"... Uh — No, I don't even need you to explain how you ended up in this situation. I kind of get it."
"Oh?"
Cleao paused for a moment, a little disappointed, then continued.
"Well — Regardless — Orphen, you seem to have a low opinion of me."
"Well ... from the look on your face, I'm guessing you captured the idiot tanuki before we got here."
"Naturally. These guys are my pawns now, and you've got some punishment coming your way."
".........."
For now, Orphen ignored Cleao's comment and turned his gaze to Vulcan, who was cowering at her feet.
"There something you want to say! Tanuki!"
"Yes."
Vulcan answered. Only, there wasn't a hint of the usual pride that Orphen was used to hearing left in the dwarf's voice...
"Please help me, please."
"... Are you asking me for a favor free of cost?"
Orphen answered nastily. Vulcan glared at Dortin, who he was tied back to back with, and muttered quietly.
"This is your fault."
"... Big brother, weren't you the one that untied the ropes at Cleao's provocation?"
"You said you were trying to loosen the rope because you felt sorry for the ugly girl!"
"Who said anything about ugly!"
"Oh shut up. Anyway, Vulcan, if you want me to help you, there's only one way to ask."
"Uhh ... I'll give you some of the magic stuff that doll gave me, if you would please help me."
"What kind of magic is it?"
Orphen asked, and Vulcan, unable to move, pointed the tip of his chin towards one of his pockets.
"Magical ear pick."
Sure enough, there was some kind of long stick in the edge of his pocket.
"What kind of power does it have?"
"Well, when you pick your ears with it—"
"Yeah—"
"It makes you itchy... Ow! Don't throw rocks at me! There's also a kettle that won't turn water into hot water no matter how much you heat it up."
"It's useless, Orphen, my pawns won't accept your bribery.
Cleao said proudly, and Orphen muttered in disgust.
"I don't know if I'd call it bribery."
"I don't care about the details! Anyway! You're about to learn some lessons! I want you to know what you're getting into when you treat me like such crap!"
Dortin spoke in a muffled voice at the girl's feet.
"You're starting to sound like big brother."
Cleao immediately kicked Dortin to shut him up, then grabbed Vulcan's head and screamed orders while swinging him around.
"Come on! My subordinate! My servant! Teach Orphen a lesson!"
"... Why me..."
Cleao dug her sharp nails into Vulcan when he complained.
"Because I'll gouge your eyes out if you don't."
"Fucking sorcerer! How could you let this mad dog run lose!"
Orphen shrugged his shoulders.
"If she's on a leash, I'm the one at risk."
"Don't you two talk about me like that! Fine — I'll just take care of this myself. Go! Megalith Infantry No. 2 — D-Fly!"
Responding to Cleao's call, one of the giant megaliths raised a shout. The magical character shined on the cloth that hung from its face, and it raised its hands and started heading towards them—
"Master!"
"Orphen!"
Majic and Stephanie shouted at the same time. Orphen raised his right hand and shouted.
"I release, the Sword of Light!"
A flash of white light roared out, blasting the giant stone doll to pieces.
Yet, Cleao was unaffected, and shouted.
"Next! Megalith Infantry No. Three: Go, Tsukatik!"
"I see, the princess of chaos!"
A swirling black torrent swallowed the rather petite giant — a super gravity well that easily shattered and consumed the body of the giant golem, and even shattered part of the altar behind it.
"Tyler! I believe in you!"
In a prayerful pose, Cleao shouted. But Orphen didn't wait around, and mercilessly unleashed the disintegrating spell.
"In my left hand, an image of the netherworld!"
"Keep going! Mikestack! Kevin Pepperer! Shipure Katsohoff!"
"I! Release! The! Sword of Light!"
"Dakada! Monkey 1000! Fuku! Smith!"
"Guide me, Deathcry Starling!"
With that spell, vibrations of destructive power destroyed the golems one after another.
Cleao clenched her fist and called out in her highest voice.
"This is my final weapon! Changpuek Kiatsongrit!"
Orphen pointed at the exceptionally large golem that had begun to move and spoke.
"By our contract—"
—His black hair stood on end, and a sudden blast of air rushed through the hall!
"End the holy war!"
Then!
At the same time, a small bolt of lightning flashed through the atmosphere, and was pulled into the body of the golem before disappearing — Right after, the golem's body shattered into pieces, only for every piece to gather back together, condense into a singular point, then disappear.
There was nothing left afterwards.
Looking blankly at the space where the last golem had disappeared — Cleao's expression suddenly faded and she sat down on the floor. She buried her face in her hands and began to sob. Beside her, Vulcan and Dortin looked at each other, still tied up, and decided to seize the opportunity to escape. They slithered away from the girl in a crab-like fashion.
"Oh ... You made her cry."
Majic said while walking up behind Orphen.
"Well ... it's as you say."
Orphen scratched his head and side eyed Cleao.
Majic shook his finger and lectured,
"I don't know, Master. That was excessively ruthless. You just blew them all away in a single shot."
"I-It's not like that."
"But never mind that. Listen to her crying. Doesn't it hurt your heart to hear that?"
Orphen did as he was told — and listened to Cleao's screaming voice — although, he had to admit he felt a little uncomfortable. Most of the crying was just nonsensical noise, but he could hear a few words here and there.
"Sly ... revenge ... laying down ... left behind ... tied up ... dog food ... pliers and nails ... and blood..."
Orphen muttered suspiciously.
"...For some reason I don't feel much sympathy."
"Master, if you don't make up with her, you know I'm gonna be the one that gets hit."
"I thought you were taking Cleao's side, but that's the real reason?"
"Hey, hey."
Stephanie interrupted, furrowing her brow as if carrying out some secret conversation.
"She's not that pitiful. And Orphen, he deserves to get beat up at least once."
"You say that with such ease because it's somebody else's problem... Try getting hit with by one of those golems yourself."
Orphen answered and turned away, then—
"Uahahahahahahaha!"
"...Huh?"
Orphen looked at the altar with a sly grin on his face — to where the laughter was coming from.
And it got louder and louder.
"Hahahahahahahaha! Gentlemen! Enough of this farce!"
"... It really was a farce, though."
Orphen groaned and looked up at the laughing individual — Vulcan, who was now standing above the altar. Before he knew it, Dortin had been untied as well, and sat wearily beside his brother.
And, behind his brother — standing with a thin blade protruding from his middle finger, was the Killing Doll. Without a doubt, it was this doll that had freed Vulcan from the ropes. He wasn't sure when it had appeared, though.
Vulcan swung his fur cloak back and drew his sword, shouting.
"All right you loan shark sorcerer! You greedy, foolish, money-grubbing bastard! Today we settle this!"
"... If possible, I'd have preferred we finished this by you just promising to pay me on a specific date."
As he said it, Orphen was no longer focused on Vulcan, but had all of his nerves concentrated on the Killing Doll behind him. The doll looked back at him with a grin. He was amused.
(Damn.)
Orphen paused.
The doll behind Vulcan certainly seemed to be guarding him—
(But if you look at it from another point of view, he's got himself a hostage.)
But Vulcan continued on without noticing his predicament.
"Don't think this is over! Do you think I would be satisfied with just a bunch of wooden dolls to get rid of you!"
"Huh. Hey."
Dortin raised his voice from behind. Vulcan immediately beat him with his sword,
"Those treasures weren't all that remained in these ruins! Let's play, sorcerer!"
"Don't tell me what to do, you bastard! Go ahead and bring out that Basilicok or whatever the hell it is!"
Orphen screamed and cast a spell in the same voice — a burst of photothermal waves burned in a straight line through the portrait hanging above Vulcan. When the explosion erupted, Vulcan screamed and ran to escape from the falling sparks and debris—
At the same time Basilicok rang, and Orphen was quick to jump sideways to dodge. The next moment, a bolt of lightning struck the spot where Orphen had just been standing.
"Kyahahahahahahah!"
Perhaps he laughed at the sight of Orphen — but the eerily high-pitched laughter of the Killing Doll echoed throughout the hall. When the doll snapped the blade back into his finger and swung his arm sideways, he loudly declared—
"Come on! I'll tell you my story as we fight!"
"Majic! Take care of Cleao!"
He — Orphen shouted out. He looked around the place to assess the situation. Besides the altar, there wasn't really anything that was likely to be an obstacle, just the small throne that had tipped over from the commotion and the collapsed remains of the golems. A part of the altar was broken, and some of the dragon statues were knocked over. The portrait was in flames and not even half of it was left.
Majic and Stephanie remained frozen, standing near the entrance. Cleao was still crying. Vulcan was holding his head on the altar and pacing left and right. Dortin looked at him and sighed, as if he just didn't care anymore. The only one who was enjoying this situation — was the Killing Doll, who was laughing.
Then — Orphen saw something strange, and panicked. Before he knew it, a gap had opened in the ceiling of the hall — and something floated through it.
"... What is...?"
Orphen groaned and looked up at them — metal spheres that were about fifty centimeters in diameter with no patterns or seams or anything. They were just spheres. There were several of them drifting through the air at a slow pace. Then, the spheres lit up and flashed with no context.
Ghuh!
A bolt of lightning fired his way. He was struck by an electrical current and flew back in shock, but shouted an incantation as he did so.
"I release, the Sword of Light!"
As he fell, the falling band of light that Orphen released pierced through one of the spheres with an explosion that deafened the hall — and went straight through, damaging the ceiling. The sphere still drifted along, unconcerned with the attack.
"That should have been a direct hit?"
"Well — How about it?"
Answered the amused voice of the Killing Doll. Orphen glared at the doll, and when he was sure that the puppet wasn't going to give him anymore hints, he turned his gaze to the spheres on the ceiling — How about it, meaning what?
(So it wasn't a direct hit, then. Damn — don't take hints from your enemies.)
He mumbled under his breath, and when he stood up, he took off running across the hall — followed by a bolt of lightning from the metal ball.
"Hahaha! Run for your life, you idiot!"
As he listened to Vulcan's screaming from the sidelines, he felt a surge of anger.
"Master!"
Majic cried. He looked over to see that him and Stephanie had made it to Cleao, and were still holding the sniffling girl's shoulders as they tried to stand her up. It was Stephanie who spoke out next.
"Orphen! What should we do now that we've got her?"
"—Uhh, about that!"
Orphen reversed direction and ran towards Majic and the others. With a quick flick of his hand he dragged Majic, Stephanie, and Cleao to the floor. At the same time, lightning struck right where Majic's head would have been.
"Eeeee!"
Majic whined. Orphen helped Cleao get up, and pushed her against Majic who was still stunned.
"Now, run away!"
"Y—You want us to run away?"
"Yeah. You can't do anything here anyway — That's why I didn't want to bring Cleao. He, that puppet, could always take her as a hostage!"
He directed his next statement to Cleao.
"And you! Why don't you think about your own safety for once!? Do I have to worry about you every single time?"
"Orphen..."
Cleao's voice trailed off in a whisper. Her blonde hair was still a little damp from her tears.
"Master..."
Majic interjected from the side.
"Does that mean you don't worry about me becoming a hostage?"
"Shush, you always gotta nitpick every little detail."
"Some detail..."
"I said shut up. Look, just get out of here. Steph — You can guide them. You're familiar with the ruins!"
He put his hand on Majic's back and gave him a good shove forward. The three people took off running, heading out of the hall. Then—
Swoosh!
Glowing letters flew through the air and spewed a pillar of white fire in front of Majic and the others — the Killing Doll was laughing from the top of the altar. On the right elbow of the doll, the same magical character that appeared in the column of fire was shining.
"Did you think I'd let them go?"
Majic was standing still as a statue, a shocked look on his face as if he'd been dragged back by the momentum of the flames. Cleao was sitting on the floor in hysterics. Stephanie was still calm, but just because she was calm didn't mean that she could pass through the flames. She shook her head and ran over to Orphen.
"This is no good! Orphen, you can't win!"
"I know!"
Orphen shouted in a brief moment of anger, brushing Stephanie's hand away when she reached to grab his arm. Instead, he glared at the Killing Doll on the altar, as if to confront him.
"You said earlier that you wanted to tell me your story — but I don't want it. I know what it is."
"What?"
The Killing Doll asked with a cool expression on its face. Orphen spoke with a dreadful smile.
"Steph said that she accidentally activated you, but — since then, I kept thinking that something didn't feel right."
"Oh..."
"Whether or not it was an accident — there's no way Steph could have activated you. The reality of this story, is that you were created by the Nornir hundreds of years ago."
"...Orphen?"
Stephanie raised her voice like she didn't understand. Orphen sighed as he tried to squeeze out the words.
"Sure, the deciphering of sorcery characters is progressing little by little among sorcerers, but not everyone can do it, because it's an entirely different dimension from deciphering old words — Rather, the decipherment of the Wyrd Graph is only a small part of the Tower of Fang's success. Although it's not an insult to you personally, Steph, you can't handle those sorcery characters. You wouldn't be able to activate the Killing Doll, the magic of the Nornir is not that simple, let alone something that happens by chance."
"But even now —"
Stephanie said, pointing to the Killing Doll at the alter.
Hahaha, the Killing Doll let out a laugh.
"Well, what is it you want to say? Human sorcerer."
"You didn't just come back to life by chance or when Steph summoned you — You were waiting long before that, waiting to appear in this era — when no one could remember the exact legends of the city anymore — and probably, in this area — could remember it in the first place."
Orphen ran his fingers through his hair with unease.
"Perhaps the legend of this city itself is made up."
"Kyahahahahahahahahahah!"
The Killing Doll suddenly twisted around as it looked up at the sky — laughing hysterically and gesturing to the flaming portrait.
"Hahahahahahah! Ha! Ha! My lord — My foolish lord — You weren't enough! You were insufficient!"
He waved his arms towards Orphen and pointed.
"This man—"
Again, he hung his head while the maniacal laughter continued.
"Then there was this man! I waited for two hundred years, and it still wasn't enough! You are not a god after all!"
"... What does that mean?"
Stephanie asked. Orphen shook his head and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"I don't have to explain it myself."
"Exactly—"
The doll said, suddenly as calm as when it had first started laughing..
The brothers were sitting at the feet of the doll, and exchanged glances, as if something had changed.
"I'll tell you the story. It was a thousand years ago — at that time there were indeed Nornir. Legend has it that they battled the mighty Basilicok, which possessed an entirely different level of sorcery, and emerged victorious."
But the doll waved his hand mockingly.
"That legend is false. They were defeated. No, rather, they certainly succeeded in stopping the Basilicok, despite the destruction of their fortress."
"... I've read the legend of the Basilicok."
Orphen said, and the doll shrugged its shoulders with disinterest.
"There are a couple of tales like that — That its very existence is toxic, and a single gaze can kill a man. The Basilicok is a poisonous beast. In the course of the long battle, the celestials were unknowingly poisoned by it."
"It's as you say... but they were also said to be demigods. They lived for hundreds of years — with their inherently long life spans — unaware that they had been poisoned by it. In that time, they built the canal—"
"They built the town, and soon people came to their streets. The two, so similar in appearance, soon got to know each other and began to live together."
"Eventually, the two would mix, and human sorcerers were born."
"That was three hundred years ago."
After saying that, the Doll suddenly went silent.
Majic was staggering up behind Orphen.
"In the end, who betrayed who?"
Orphen turned around.
"You remember? Yes — that was the question. Who was betrayed, and by whom?"
"That's easy."
The doll spread its lips to the shape of a thin crescent and smiled.
"Everyone was a traitor."
"... What does that mean?"
When Orphen asked, the doll simply continued as if reciting a poem.
"The celestials were eroded by poison. If you're a celestial, you can survive the poison, but it's a strong poison. The human beings who were involved with the celestials ceased to exist, falling to inexplicable deaths one after another. In the end, humans began to be cautious. The humans eventually came to believe that the celestials were trying to eradicate humans. It was said that the celestials were jealous of the human sorcerers, who existed at the time and had gained the use of sorcery. After all, the celestials were naturally few in number with low birth rates. There were too many human sorcerers, and they couldn't afford to have an overabundance of human sorcerer."
"... If that was the case..."
"Yes, the human beings finally rose up and tried to expel the celestials from the city. Legends claimed there was a sorcerer hunt, but no such thing happened — In reality it was a witch hunt. Of course, there was no contest between the celestials and the human sorcerers. So, the human sorcerers fell one after another — and it seems this is why it was referred to as sorcerer hunts in later times. During that hunt, Killing Dolls like me were built to promptly dispose of the human sorcerers."
".........."
As the people in the room listened in silence, the Killing Doll raised his voice and continued on, as if picking up on that silence.
"Humans believed that the celestials betrayed and poisoned them! The celestials thought that the people trying to expel them from the town were the traitors! It was all of them! What they all lacked was trust."
"... You Killing Dolls seemed to have known what was going on, by that smug look of yours."
"Because we were calm."
The doll snorted through its nose, through which it shouldn't actually be able to breath.
"Besides — What would you expect us to do? We only accept the Prime Directive, and the order at that time was to terminate the sorcerer race without question. That was all."
"... But why did the celestials disappear from this land?"
Majic asked, almost shouting now. The doll's eyes widened as it responded.
"It was the poison. The poison that had been slowly eating away at them for years began to kill the celestials as they lost their resistance, due to the weakening of their power from old age... and the witch hunts. They inevitably had to use sorcery in the hunts, which accelerated the decline of their strength. One by one, the celestials died of exhaustion. The last one left was a Heavenly Being by the name of Sister Istershiva. Her portrait has burned now, though. Even so, it was her last will and testament — "I will leave witness that I existed here!"
The doll moved its hands to the portrait whose smoldering remains were still ablaze.
"She was a powerful woman — She gave us our last orders. I suppose that for she, who was dying, there was only one thing to consider. That the least she could do, was to destroy the human race. To do that, it became necessary to develop everything in secret. We were to wait until everyone had forgotten about the past, and then, as our first act, we would exterminate every single sorcerer in this city. If they weren't sorcerers, they wouldn't be a problem. After that, once there were no more sorcerers left in this city, our Killing Dolls will secretly deploy across the continent — as that woman knows. She knows about this ruin. That there are hundreds of Killing Dolls just like me stored here."
"Really?"
Orphen asked Stephanie, who was standing at his side and raising her arm to gesture at the metal ball on the ceiling. She nodded, trembling.
"It's true... I saw it ... Somewhere beyond this hall, in a sort of mausoleum, there were rows of coffins — and more like this one were lined up in them."
He couldn't keep this up any longer. He let out a small sigh, then Orphen gazed up at the metal ball — and in that instant saw a tiny light flash on it before he shouted out.
"I release, the Sword of Light!"
The torrent of light split the air and shot through the metal ball that was just about to fire a lightning bolt. The metal ball immediately exploded, it shattered and fell to the ground.
Orphen avoided the falling shrapnel and turned back to the doll.
"I see. I didn't think there was a single scratch on the surface, but it turned out the sphere was rotating at an incredibly high speed. The light must've been bounced off of the surface due to the spin. That's why I couldn't break it, I had to target the sorcery characters on the surface while its resolution was slowed for attack."
"Heheh. No matter how many of those things you destroy, it won't bother me any. In any case, I alone will be sufficient to make a bloodbath of you!"
"So ... big brother."
Dortin leaned over after listening to the Killing Doll's story, his mouth hanging open.
"What do we do — I'm not sure what's going on, but it seems like things are getting strangely serious — Wait, where'd my big brother go?"
"Dortin! Your older brother is ashamed!"
"Heh?"
When Dortin yelped and looked around, Vulcan, who had fled behind Orphen before he knew it, cupped his hands like a megaphone and shouted to his brother.
"To be so easily possessed by a vengeful heart that you would turn my dear friend Orphen into an enemy! It's the work of the devil! Your older brother will straighten you out!"
"... That's not what happened, big brother."
"Ah—..."
Orphen glanced at Dortin, then kicked Vulcan down with a tired voice to silence him.
"Well, whatever... Why don't you come over here too, Dortin?"
"Huh? But ..."
Dortin looked up at the Killing Doll beside him. It didn't seem to care much about the dwarf, and stood still watching Orphen.
Orphen looked back at it.
"It's fine. I came here just like I promised, so there's no need for hostages anymore."
"R-right..."
Orphen covered Dortin has he scurried towards him, but kept staring at the Killing Doll — It was covered in hundreds of letters, all carved into the same nude body as before. Even in a decent fight, it wasn't an opponent Orphen could beat. But...
"So, you really are just a doll, huh?"
"...What?"
The Doll asked back with a twitch of its eyes.
Orphen smiled wanly and tried to concentrate his enemies attention on him.
"I don't know how to explain it but — once you get focused on one thing, you can't seem to pay attention to anything else."
"I only accept my Master's orders."
"So... That's how it is. However—"
Orphen shifted his gaze to the statue of the Celestial rising above the head of the doll.
"Isn't it a little careless of you? I'm only distracting your attention from the most ferocious person in our group."
"What?"
By the time the Killing Doll hastily followed Orphen's line of sight, things were already in motion—
The small girl with blonde hair jumped down at him from the Celestial's statue with a scream, gripping a sword.
"That—"
At the last moment the doll tried to activate one of the characters etched into its body — but its fingers stopped moving before it could draw out the full character—
A moment before that, the sword carrying Cleao's full body weight grazed the neck of the Killing Doll — carving into the doll's torso. It gouged around its lower belly with the sharp edge of the blade, and though there wasn't any blood splashing from its wound the doll seemed to be in pain.
"Ooowwwwiiie!"
After jumping down, Cleao, who seemed to have twisted her ankle, flopped against the Doll's legs and let out a scream. It looked down at her crouched in place, and boiling with anger, it raised its arm—
"Little girl! You're not even a sorcerer!"
"I release, the Sword of Light!"
The photothermal wave fired by Orphen shot through the raised arm.
"Uuaaaagghh!"
Caught off guard by the force of the explosion, the doll fell towards the back of the altar. Orphen quickly turned and jumped onto the altar, grabbing Cleao's small shoulders as she sat there still cowering. Orphen sighed loudly.
"Okay — heart-to-heart here. Good work, partner."
He muttered. Cleao raised her head to look at him.
"Partner?"
She repeated the word curiously.
At that moment—
Pow!
A pure white brilliance welled up from where the Killing Doll had fallen. At the same time wind pressure accompanied by heat waves forced Orphen and Cleao to the other side of the altar, knocking them down in the process
"Oof!"
When Orphen arose—
On the altar — which looked frighteningly high from below — stood the doll. It was completely unharmed aside from the wound running down its lower abdomen, and was staring down at them coldly.
The doll kept its expression calm and uttered in an angry voice.
"You broke me."
"... Oh shut up."
Orphen stood up and wrapped his arm around Cleao to protect her. With a smile he spoke,
"Hehe — You're right, I broke you. I realized it. You used those characters on your lower abdomen to seal voice sorcery, but those characters — You can't use it anymore — Cleao carved them up, right?"
"... So, what's the problem. I have more than one or two characters on me. There are hundreds of characters I can use to kill human sorcerers—"
He covered one of the characters and looked to Orphen.
"It may just be one, and there may be hundreds left, but every time one is broken, it means you've lost 1/100 of your power. If I have to outwit you again and again, I will, until you've been completely destroyed! Now come on!"
He put his fingers against his shirt and drew out the crest — the coat of arms of a single legged dragon standing entangled around a sword.
"All right, Doll Man! I'll be the one to settle this!"
"As you wish!"
The doll cried out, quickly running its finger over the character on its right shoulder. A streak of light shined as he traced over it—
That light turned into countless arrows and rained down over the heads of Orphen and the others.
"I spin, the armor of our halo!"
Orphen's incantation echoed, creating a big barrier that covered Majic behind him — but the arrows penetrated the barrier and exploded through the floor!
"—!"
Struck hard by the blast, Orphen was knocked to the floor — but he was lucky that he didn't get impaled by any of the arrows. There were open wounds all over his body, but he couldn't care less about that. He jumped up and looked around to confirm if his friends were safe.
—At the same time, he was stunned.
The sight of the hall had completely transformed. The floor was smashed to pieces, like a riverbed of crushed rubble. A large hole was opened in the wall, exposing red clay from the ground. There was no sign of the altar, aside from the statue of the Celestial that still stood safely, as if it had been intentionally spared. Water was leaking through the cracks that ran the length of the wall.
Due to the dust that'd been rising for a while there wasn't a clear line of sight and he couldn't make out many details. Cleao, Majic, and the others, must've fallen behind some of the debris somewhere, or perhaps...
"Shit."
Orphen cursed, trying to rush to find his friends — but his legs wouldn't move, as if he was paralyzed.
"It seems as if you're no match, isn't that right?"
It was the doll's calm, cruel voice that asked. Its slender fingers had gripped his neck, the doll having crept up behind him before he had realized.
(I'm paralyzed...?)
Orphen silently asked himself, and the doll immediately answered.
"You were injected with a poisonous needle ... It's in the palm of my hand. It's a fast-acting relaxant poison, but it's harmless to vital organs. A revolutionary poison, isn't it? It won't kill you, but it'll rob you of your physical freedom."
".........."
"Hehe ... In this situation, your self discipline seems to be waning — I can read what you're thinking. You're also hoping that little girl will surprise me from somewhere again. I think it's better that you put that out of your mind — she's passed out at my feet."
He glanced around — only able to move his eyes — and managed to look at his feet. He could see the girl's slender wrist. She was gripping the hilt of her sword, but was losing strength.
The doll continued.
"The other black-magic sorcerer — Stephanie? She was useless, too. To save you the trouble of looking for her, I can tell you that she's buried under the rubble where the altar used to be."
".........."
"Oh, dear, are you even holding high expectations for those dwarves? That must be so cruel..."
".........."
"The only one left is your student, and he's powerless."
"... Majic ... I know you can hear me."
Orphen stubbornly muttered, ignoring the doll.
The doll raised its hand, and Orphen continued.
"I need your help to defeat this puppet bastard. Listen — You should be able to use sorcery, right?"
Silence ... There was no answer. Orphen continued regardless. He could feel the sweat trickling down his forehead.
"I'll teach you the very basics of sorcery ... Okay ... First of all, you need to keep your eyes fixed on your target. Only that target, don't see anything else. Then, just once — Breath in. Keep breathing in. If you exhale, you'll lose your power."
There was no reaction.
(Was it useless...?)
Orphen suddenly thought desperately.
"If you keep breathing in, you'll eventually reach your limit — it'll be obvious — and when that limit is reached, if you feel that the target is right in front of you, you'll succeed. Don't over think it. Just scream from the bottom of your stomach. If you've been doing the incantation exercises I taught you, you should be able to do it. Then the magical power within your body will be woven into the shape that you imagine and released—"
And, at that moment, a clear voice echoed in the tense atmosphere of the hall—
"I, I release you—"
"... Huh?"
Orphen blinked. The voice continued.
"SWORD OF LIGHT!"
Boom! —
Orphen was dumbfounded — stuck in utter disbelief — at the gigantic band of light that pierced the hall. Heat waves several times, maybe even several dozen times the size of that released by Orphen lanced past him and the Killing Doll. The light never ceased, effortlessly piercing the walls of the hall, causing the ruin of Basilicok itself to shake violently—
"T-This is?"
The doll uttered, its body shuddering.
"Such power — What happened to you in the span of the last two hundred years—?
When the murmurings died down, the torrent of extraordinary light and heat disappeared. The water of the canal fell through the gaping hole in the wall.
The doll relaxed, and the finger that had been gripping Orphen's neck loosened. With a soft sound, the poison needle was retracted from his skin. Orphen saw his opportunity and quickly twisted around.
(Move, body—)
His body was trembling, numbed by the poison, but he grabbed Cleao's sword, which was lying at his feet, and drove the blade into the doll's neck, swinging it up from the lower right. He heard a clang, and the blade stopped half way into the dolls neck. Its knees almost buckled, as if from shock—
At the moment that the sword caught on the neck of the doll, Orphen released his hand from the handle, and swung both hands to the left with great force. He stopped his arms when they had gone far enough and shouted.
"I brandish, the sword of the devil!"
With the incantation, a weight appeared in his hand, as if he was grasping a sword — an invisible one. Orphen looked back at the doll, who was watching him with the word lodged into its neck. He then swung the invisible sword into the doll's neck from the left!
Bam! The invisible sword slammed into the doll's neck from the opposite side of Cleao's, and sunk just as far. The two swords intersected in such a way that they sliced through the doll's neck, and the doll's head was sliced clean off, sent dancing through the air—
The head flew in an arc of a few meters then bounced around the mountain of debris. It was like a rolling ball ... and it rolled to the feet of the Heavenly Being's statue and stopped.
".........."
With a thud, Orphen slumped to the ground. He unconsciously stroked Cleao's soft blonde hair.
"It's finished..."
Fwump ... At last he heard the sound of the doll's decapitated body collapsing in place. Orphen immediately looked down at it, giving a tired smile.
Light was shining from where the heat waves released by Majic had opened a large hole in the wall. Water was flowing through it at a considerable rate, and in ten more minutes, the whole hall might be submerged.
(That idiot... Did he really do that with just one little piece of advice? Damn, that kid's a monster...)
"M-M-Ma-Master!"
Majic's voice reverberated in the hall.
"... What?"
Orphen gazed to the side where he could see Majic climbing out from the rubble.
"A-amazing — I must be a genius, huh-"
"Genius? More like an idiot!"
Orphen immediately yelled and threw the nearest piece of debris at his disciple.
"What are you doing, Master!?"
"What the hell were you thinking!? Look at your hands!
When Orphen said that, Majic looked down at his hands with a puzzled look on his face — and then screamed.
"W-what is this? Why are they burnt like that!"
"When your own sorcery damages your body it's a clear indication that you weren't concentrating on your target properly! And you missed that doll by several meters! Now listen up! Never use sorcery again!"
"Well, I was still able to do it!"
"Shut up! You can't say "I did it" until you've mastered sorcery!"
With all the shouting, Stephanie and Cleao, who had been knocked unconscious, both seemed to have woken up — groaning and mumbling. Stephanie stood up from under the rubble of the altar. Vulcan and Dortin, who were closer to the entrance, jolted up as well. Cleao also turned over, and spoke up in a sleepy voice.
"Oh, you're done, Orphen...?"
Stephanie muttered as she stumbled closer to him. Orphen answered with a simple yes.
But—
"Kyahahahahahahahahah!"
Laughter—
Under the Celestial's statue, the head, lying in the cracks of the rubble, let out a roar of laughter. The gazes of everyone present suddenly turned towards it.
The head repeated its ridicule and cried out.
"Do you really think this is over!? Don't forget! I'm only one doll — If I stop functioning, the next doll will wake up! Do you intend to destroy my compatriots one by one, nearly a thousand of them? This time there will be no surprises!"
".........."
Orphen stood up slowly and sighed.
"You keep running your mouth, but you must not have noticed."
"... What do you mean?"
Ignoring the doll's question, Orphen walked towards the Killing Doll's headless body — dragging Dortin behind him. Dortin was completely distracted. Orphen picked up the doll's body and asked Dortin.
"Hey, you must've seen it — the magical character that was activated to destroy the Damsel's Orisons."
"Huh? I saw it, but."
"By the way, I was out cold."
Vulcan said with pride. He was also approaching them before he knew it. Orphen chucked a piece of rubble to silence Vulcan, and turned back towards Dortin.
"Do you remember the shape of the letter and where it was drawn on its body?"
"Y-Yeah..."
"Wait, you're—"
The doll screamed in panic.
"Shut up. Now then, Dortin. Use the hand of the doll and trace over the symbol exactly, and you should be able to activate it. With the power of those symbols, we can easily blow up these stupid ruins—"
The magical character drawn on the heart of the doll started to activate, if not a bit awkwardly — The terrain shook and a tornado started up, a precursor to the same explosion that happened before. It would start destroying the hall.
As Orphen was about to leave the hall, followed by Vulcan and Dortin, who were the first to flee, then Majic and Cleao, who were next, someone grabbed his arm from behind.
"... Steph."
Orphen threw a cryptic glance over his shoulder.
"What the hell are you doing? If you don't hurry and escape, you won't make it out in time."
"... I wanna ask you something, do you not feel anything when you hear the story of that doll?"
"What?"
"What ... What they were talking about with the celestials. If that's true, I feel like an idiot. It was all just a misunderstanding. Sorcerers in this city have been persecuted for hundreds of years over nothing—"
Stephanie's eyes looked so dark, but Orphen shrugged his shoulders and continued on.
"Well, what the hell ... It's just a matter of perspective. And I—"
He pointed at the head of the doll, which was sitting motionless in the corner of the hall, ranting and raving.
"I'm not so naive as to take that bastard's word for it. The celestials wouldn't have tried to kill sorcerers and human beings just because of jealousy."
"Then ... what was it?"
"What if they realized that their bodies had been poisoned? If they were infected, there's a big possibility that the poison could circulate to the human sorcerers who have their blood in their veins. Even if the sorcerers themselves wouldn't die because of their sorcery, if left unchecked, the Basilicok's poison could infect the entire human race, and the human race itself may die. In order to prevent that, they may have had no choice but to exterminate the human sorcerers, no matter what stigma they may later bear."
" ... But then, then why ... did Sister Istershiva do that? She died giving those orders... Ordering the Killing Dolls to exterminate the sorcerers."
"Even the celestials don't act as a single mind. It just so happens that someone who had a different way of thinking, was the one to have survived until the end."
Saying that, Orphen pushed Stephanie's back and threw her through the exit of the hall. He turned to follow, but paused for a moment, and then turned around and muttered to himself, looking at the portrait, which was nothing by cinders at this point.
"I'm alive and for the most part, I'm okay."
He said to the doll's head with a grin. At the same time, he turned his gaze up towards the statue of the Heavenly Being that loomed above, tilting ever-so-slightly.
"And there's no proof that you guys are completely extinct ... I'll just have to ask them if I ever meet them one day. There's no need for us to carry on this misunderstanding over such a trivial matter, like our ancestors have."
The tremors of the ruins were getting worse. Orphen clicked his tongue and left the hall in a hurry.
Table of Contents
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Guardian of the Treasure The Beautiful Allenhatem! A Challenge From Volcan Basilicok Then - He Accepted His Master's Orders |