✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

「Once the curtains closed on the whole mana training debacle with my uncle, I was dismissed whilst the whole legion of mages had sealed off Sora and Yuki’s memories with a magic seal before vacating my star system. After the altercation with Miss Charlotte, I called up Freya-san to get a better understanding of what had transpired from before that led to all this. It seemed like she knew a thing or two, which I'd like to know otherwise I'll have nowhere to take out my cold apoplexy on.

Upon the slope of a vale surrounded in foliage, I laid down with my full attention stuck on a virtual screen transmitting the video feed of Freya-san on the opposite side.」

“Ne~, Freya-san. What was up with Miss Charlotte?”

【 “Her master-servant~ contract was overwritten as we feared~.” 】

“Overwritten?!? How does that even end up happening?!?!”

「That’s completely absurd! There’s no way it’s possible to tamper with magical contracts. They aren’t something that could easily be augmented just like that by anyone other than the binder. No Ordinaire could ever possibly cast a spell capable of interfering with the dedicated personal mana nodes that link people in contracts.」

“What do you know about all this?”

【 “We're~ looking into the cause~, but nothing~ is turning~ out. At this~ rate, we might have~ to reluctantly keep Charl~ in custody.” 】

“Nothing you say... magic that can not only disturb a secure spell sequence of personal mana nodes but even control their consciousness. That’s at least High-Tier Rite Casting... no, it might even fall into–”

【 “Untelhimmel Class, huh~? But such rites that can~ interfere with personal nodes~ are not only banned~ from use, they’re e~ven one of the Lost Rites that can’t be found a~nywhere else aside~ from within our own~ Rings…” 】

“Freya-san, do you know what caused Miss Charlotte’s overwrite?”

【 “We’re not~ certain yet~, but it might~ have something to do with our previous~ scuffle with a certain group of perpetrators that re~cently broke into the Heavenly Sky Palace.” 】

“You mean that one incident from a few months ago? It’s somehow related?”

【 “Yep, that’s where this may have all started!” 】

“Freya-san, I'm sorry but I don’t get how this incident can be connected to the insurgence a while ago?”

【 “Don’t worry! Freya-san will explain everything so far in chronological order! First off–––” 】

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

「–––A few weeks ago, on the 28th of Sylven, Year 725, there was a time where a certain~ duet of maids were gossiping away~ when I happened to be nearby and eavesdropped on them. It seemed~ that one of the maids had visited~ the other’s residence on their home planet~ within the Servant’s Supercluster. A world~ of glass was the simplest~ way to describe the setting in which~ their confab took its occasion.

They were well~ within earshot of the destination I~ had alighted upon – adjacent~ to the leylines that connected almost every~ place within the Heavenly Sky Palace. It was~ a strange coincidence, since nor~mally one wouldn’t be able to hear any~ form of conversation taking place galaxies~ away. Perhaps~ they didn’t put up a barrier? But~ there’s no way anyone would just forget~ to cast a silencing barrier…

So I thought~ to myself, I might~ as well listen to what they were~ speaking about and it was fu~lly justified, I say!

After all~, it is my duty as a member~ of the Retinue to keep an eye~ on the collegiality of other~ Servants. Their topic was~ quite the intriguing one as well – something that I~ couldn’t just outright ignore.」

“Hey Claire, there’s been a lot of new recruits recently. Have you heard?”

“Really!? I haven’t heard of this at all! Though I was beginning to wonder why it felt like there were suddenly more Guardian Mages and Servants than before…”

“Wait, so even you didn’t hear about it? That's strange... If there were new recruits joining, we would have been told of the wave of recruitment in advance...”

“Wait hold on a sec, Rose?! There wasn’t any prior notice of this? Then, where did you hear about all this?”

“I've met with some of the new recruits myself. Some places within Lyren have been taken up as rented spaces for these newcomers.”

“Oh my, from Lyren too? Have there been any other changes?”

“Mhmm... the Chiliocosm has been receiving less visitors as of lately when it’s been a popular place because it is the Chiliocosm after all. They might have something to do with each other.”

“My~, isn’t this a nice, cordial conversation ~!”

“Uwa~!?”

「Rose was most cer~tainly shaken from my sudden appearance. But I just couldn’t~ help my curiosity! Translocating high~ up upon the balcony~ of a tapered skyscraper like the ones~ you would see at a hypercity, I jovially introduced myself.」

“Good afternoon~, you two~, please don’t mind me. I'd like to join in on your conversation~ ~!! Do tell~ me more about this!”

“Oh, Miss Freya... Hnnn?? Did our conversation happen to interest you???”

「Well of course~ it did. Gleefully smiling, Claire tried~ to evoke the reason for my visiting~.」

“Very much indeed~. I'm even willing to pay~ to listen!”

“Then you should ask Rose. She’s got all the info.”

“Ehhhhh!?! Claire, that's not fair!!! Pushing all the expectations on me!”

「Slamming the opaque~ glass table with both~ hands, Rose~ jumped out from her seat in dissent. Seemingly uncomfortable~ with the redirected attention, Rose~ was on the brink~ of bursting into tears.」

“Ahahah!!! Alright, alright, fiiiiine, you don’t have to cry... I’ll tell Miss Freya instead.”

“Ummu...”

「Hiding her pouting~ countenance beneath the table, I almost felt sorry for Rose with her puppy-like eyes~ on full display. A shy~ and demure~ girl for sure...」

“So you see Madam–“

“Goodness~, you don’t have to be so~ stiff around me...”

「I had~ to pause Claire right then and there before~ she continued any further in an o~verly polite manner with that o~verly serious face... It'd o~nly get more awkward listening to someone while the speaker themselves takes such~ considerations. I mean, it’d just be weird right~?!?!! Oh wait~, maybe this is how Sakuya-ojou~san feels??」

“Uhm... then Miss Freya it is. That should be acceptable right?”

“Ehh~…?? But–”

“Then I'll start with how there were new recruits that supposedly joined the ranks of the Heavenly Sky Palace's personnel. Miss Freya, have you heard anything about it?”

“New~ recruits? That’s funnyyyy~… because I’ve ne~ver heard a word of this.”

「At this one~ subordinate clause, both the faces of Claire~ and Rose~ had been drained of colour for an instant as my eyelids narrowed in rumination. Rose then followed up with an exclamation of disbelief.」

“Wha?!? Is it not true then, Miss Freya...?”

“I've most cer~tainly not heard of such ridiculous gossip as of lately. One wouldn’t need~ to guess that I'd know way~ more about these sorts of ordeals before anyone else~ does. And that’s~ where the point of contention lies... Any~ ideas where these people might be~?”

“T-there were apparent rumours that more people have been populating the nearby hypercity as well...”

“Rose! We need to go to Lyren and check this out!”

“Umu!! Uh, then would Miss Freya be willing to come along with us by any chance?? It'd be very reassuring to have you tag along...”

“You don’t even need~ to ask!! Please~ take me to these~ newcomers. I wanna introduce myself~ to them!”

“Alright, let’s translocate!!!”

-════════════════-

「Taking~ the leylines to the nearest warpstop~, we rode the leylines~ to Lyren Station as Rose~ lead the way for us through~ the hypercity. The three~ of us translocated to a gi~ant residential complex with vertical skyscrapers cascading~ along the skies.

Orienting ourselves perpendicular to the skyscrappers, we landed on~ the entry gateway that leed to~ the inside. Geometric patterns spread out from a point before opening up a hole to the inside. Jumping in, therein we followed after Rose~ as we flew through a widely spaced tunnel that went up~ at times or changed in all sorts of directions~ at intersections.

Soon~, we were led to the door of her associate~ and opened the warp medium that was instilled~. After another set of geometric patterns did their thing, a portal on the seal placed on the opposite~ side of the door was connected to a local space elsewhere~ within Lyren and outside the hypercity.

Leading to a closed-off star system~, we appeared on the entrance platform of the appropriate~ residential planet.

Or at least there should have been a planet...」

“What!?! The whole planet’s been destroyed?!!”

「Magma and voluminous chunks of planetary debris had been scattered into space. A mess of a core was glowing at the center of the destruction – which seemed to have been done somewhat recently…」

“That can’t be… To think they’d destroy property belonging to the government...”

“There are residual signs of mana being used. Can you two feel it?”

「Even within the void of scattered magic, traces of mana could be distinctly felt, wafting through the volatile space. It was truly an eye-opening surprise.

Intentional vandalism? Can it really be...?」

“Un, we can. But I can’t seem to recognise this mana…”

“Rose, you don’t recognise the mana?”

“Not at all… Miss Freya, I think we should trace back the vestiges of mana.”

“I suppose so… let’s follow their lead before it’s gone!”

““Roger!””

-════════════════-

“Oh? It seems that we’re within the space of the Heavenly Sky Palace's Hypercluster...”

「On the astral mercator projection, the location we were shown was within the hypercluster where the Amamiya Family resides.

The Inner Sanctum.

What a strange turn of events...」

“The vestiges of their mana end about here. However...”

“From a quick glance about, it doesn’t appear that there's anyone or even anything around. There's only the vast number of galactic filaments before us.”

「There were, of course, a few Mana Piers that the Equalisers control. After all, that’s the function of the pier lyxions – they “equalise” the mana fields around us. But if something had gone awry within those fields, it’d be relayed to all personnel. The fact that the spatial lyxions haven’t detected anything is in itself a source of anxiety.」

““...””

「Claire went silent as I thought of our next step.

If one cannot detect a mage, it must be because they’re either hiding their presence, their mana is suppressed, or both.

An out-of-place feeling of dissonance coursed through my mind at the same time, finely threading through my nerves.

A premonition of disaster.

Like all the ones I've always had that saved my soul countless times in the past. Though, this time it was a sensation dissimilar to all others. Is there no correlation here then?

Extending our visual prowess into Elyiere, everything within a few light seconds came under our watchful gazes. Peering into the depths of the hypercluster, our sights all intersected at the same point. Both anomalies from mana perception and my Seidr correspondingly registered in my sensory recognition. Evincing their location, we immediately knew where this 'fake recruit’ was, but...

Oh my, what do we have here? Why don’t you look at that?? It appears that neither did I recognise this individual nor their mana, but even their partner whom had accompanied them was a complete stranger to me.

They were both nonchalantly together inside the crevasse of a stray asteroid amongst many others of its kind in a belt around a large star in a nearby galaxy. What a mouthful~!

Now that I think about it, they're not even in the appropriate attire for a recruited member of the Heavenly Sky Palace’s task force. Their dark military outfits completely concealed their identities but it was obvious that they were a pair of man and woman.」

“We'll go and check, Miss Freya.”

“Claire, wait. There’s no need for it. Instead–”

「If I raise my hand, there’s no further need to exert ourselves. Whatever might be brewing underneath, it will be swiftly dealt with by the descent of my hand.

『Material Asunder』.

Expending a teensy tiny bit of mana, I cast a destructive Zephyr spell.」

-════════════════-

“!?!”

“Nn...? What's wrong?”

“I felt someone's gaze... I think... we’re probably being watched...”

“That's nonsense. I don’t feel anyone’s presence anywhere near us.”

“Listen here you little bitch, you think I'd lie in this situation!? Well I'll be damned if I did!!”

「Well he wasn’t lying as much as he was flailing around insecurely!」

“Bastard... Where do you suppose they might be then?”

“You think I know!? The Heavenly Sky Palace's Hypercluster is fucking huge! There’s no way I'd know wher–!?!”

「But their view was dyed green though? It really was obvious... Ah, but it’s a bit obscure, isn’t it ✩? The sky beyond the opening of the asteroid's cavity flashed like a bright, verdant torch of tituration.」

“QUICK!!! CAST A DEFENSIVE BARRIER!!!!”

「Conjuring a shield of adequate proportion, they barely managed to keep themselves alive. What poor beings... their defensive will get torn to pieces if that’s all they're capable of...」

“NGH?!! WHAT'S WITH THIS TINY GREEN LASE–!?!”

“It’s too late you know? It’s already about to kill you…”

“Huh?!? Wh–”

Krch-cha!

「How disappointing... their flimsy barrier really did almost shatter within a fraction of a second.」

“Can’t have two precious hostages die on me, now can I?”

““Guagh?!?””

「Blasting out a shockwave of mana, they crashed into the expansive cave's wall inside the asteroid. Cracks bolted all the ways to ceiling hundreds of meters above. I can’t very well have these two dying from such a meagre attack. After all, they’ll serve well as hostages in order to lure out their other accomplices.

Material Asunder poked a hole through the floor, into the asteroid and flew through the belt of asteroids all the ways to the edge of the star system.」

“The crystal!? Is it–?!?!”

“Oh, you mean~ this~??? No worries, no harm's been done to it. What a fa~scinating little gem this is~!! Were you~ perhaps trying to steal~ it? Oh my, but that can’t be... this crystal doesn’t belong to the Sky Palace at all...”

「And never have I ever seen such complex rites being embedded into such a precious stone... What in the world might this be? I kept ruminating on the possibilities as I vigilantly squinted.」

“...!”

“...”

“Heeeey... don’t go silent on me!!! Say something!!!”

“...hah!”

「As I turned to face the two, I caught a glimpse of them in the corner of my eye where I least expected them.」

“Running for the exit, are we? It's no good. Even if you make telepathic arrangements, you two won’t be leaving scot free after this.”

「A sheen blinked through our periphery as our surroundings had changed texture.」

“Where do you think you're going?”

「A hardened glass barrier cut off the assailants escape route and the entire asteroid had been vitrified into a virtually inescapable prison of glass with the interior out on full display to the outside.」

“Stay where you are if you do not wish to die.”

「But the most startling development here was Rose. With a stoid visage, she held the reigns of her rose vines that shrouded the smooth interior and encapsulated the glass solid that was originally a stray asteroid. Aromatically sweet fragrances pervaded the vicinity – such that once if one were to breathe it in, it would induce a narcotic effect.」

“Tch! Damn it...”

“Fine. Do as you please with us.”

「They easily gave in to the pheromones of Roses' Biogenesis Magic. Even though their lives were potentially on the line, they shouldn’t be sparing any of their mental strength in such a dilemma. If they couldn’t handle this much, they must either be unfortunate low-rank mages, or they didn’t have to do any more than what they have. Or even both. If so, then what did they intend on doing?

The two maids deftly handled the intruders with well-executed duress, but it seemed to have little effect unfortunately.」

“Will you answer my questions or die for your cause, I wonder?”

“Huh? Why should we die in such a shitty way?”

「The latter it must be. They’re confident they can get away with this.」

“Then shall I assume you’ll answer my questions?”

“If we can that is.”

「No opposition.」

“Why did you infiltrate the Heavenly Sky Palace?”

“To fix that crystal in a secluded place.”

「Objective: ‘to fix that crystal in a secluded place’.」

“Are there other infiltrators like you who have the same motive?”

“There are at least a few hundred others. Oops, now I've let out a little too much.”

“Have you now? There can never be too much for the likes of you to divulge. What's the purpose behind this?”

“...”

“What are these crystals?”

“...”

“Under whose orders were you made to act?”

“...”

“Why did you destroy public property in Lyren?”

“...”

“I see, so that’s all we'll honestly get out from you two. How useless...”

「They barely held up against the weak hypnosis which nothing much could be done about for now. There's plenty of time for that later.」

““!!?!””

「Crushing their consciousness with the force of my Od, they could do nothing whilst they were sent away from this world temporarily. There was no point keeping them awake since that would give them more time to pull off something recalcitrant behind our backs .」

“Miss Freya, what should we do with...”

“Take them away to the Heavenly Sky Palace's astral prison and get the Guardians to interrogate them further. Make sure they can't kill themselves in any way.”

“R-roger!!”

“Uhm... Miss Freya's a little scarier than I originally thought...”

“Hn? Am I? Ah, my bad~. My switch gets flipped on at times~ which I can’t really~ do much about.”

“N-nn... Who would have thought that this was what the real Miss Freya was like...”

“Hmm~, speak for yourselves~... Claire rea~lly did act her part but even~ Rose too???? I never~ expected it!!!”

“Ahhh?!? No, that’s not how... M-miss Freyaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!”

““Fu... Ahahahahahaha!!!!!””

「And so Claire and I laughed off Rose's moment of depression while the rest went unquestioned.

With these circumstances, I’ll have to report this to Ayame-sama as soon as possible. I do not know if something is about to happen sooner or later but for the time being, we'll have to look around for other sources of doubt.

Like these crystals.

“Anyways~, you two can sense this crystal’s mana right? Let’s split up and find more crystals like these.”

“Unn... These crystals... Ohhh, I see. Alright then, let’s find as many as we can within the next hour.”

“Let’s rendezvous at the Sky Palace’s astral prison with our findings.”

「I’ll have Claire and Rose search around for other crystals like these just as I will. Then an assembly must be called to decide on the measures to be taken.」

“Nnn... these crystals don’t seem all that amiable. You sure that we can just take them to prison?”

“The Institute – they’ll take care of the crystals while we obtain more information from them. Now then, let’s find more of these crystals!”

“”Roger!””

「The foreboding anxiety these crystals had been emanating must be extinguished at all costs.

These are not normal crystals by any means.

Although, that might be a bit extreme. If these crystals are one of a kind, it'd be a bit of a waste if they get pruned that arbitrarily.」

-════════════════-

✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦

-════════════════-

「Altogether, we piled up a pretty collection of around 30 crystals which were pervasively scattered in multiple places all over the Hypercluster. Some were being set in place by the infiltrators whereas others were already set in place. I do not know how many more there might be but there’s only so much that a triad can do alone.

Who knows how many more there are just waiting to be found? What am I to think of these many being distributed around?

Apprehending multiple individuals along the way, we sent them with the other Guardians to incarcerate them at the astral prison within The Heavenly Sky Palace. I might have to pay Ayame-sama a visit later on in regards to the findings of these gems.」

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

“Mhm... this is worrying, indeed...”

“Ayame-sama, if I may ask, do you have any idea of what’s happening?”

“Unfortunately, I do not. There’s much to be investigated and it'll require some time before anything can be said. For now, keep an eye out for any more suspicious movements.”

“Most certainly. That is my duty after all. However, there’s something that concerns me the most. And it's these white crystals here.”

「I handed a crystal over to Ayame-sama when faint traces of shock became evident from her facial muscles freezing in contemplation.」

“What in the world... Has the Institute begun analysis of these crystals by any chance?”

“Analysis... you ask...????”

「Rites that even Ayame-sama do not recognise at a glance? It can’t possibly be...」

“Forgive my rudeness, but the rites on these crystals are such that even Ayame-sama cannot interpret??”

“Ahaha... Freya, I'm not a computer, you know?”

「Ayama-sama smiled wryly. Even for someone as esteemed as Ayame-sama, it wasn’t such an easy feat – rites that even Untelhimmel Class magic cannot compare to.

Autemceles Class.

Even so, I couldn’t bring myself to believe such a thing.」

“Ah, my apologies.”

“It’s fine. Send these crystals to the Institute immediately to break down the spell compositions and decipher them. Report back on the composition of the rites. This is an urgent matter.”

“Hai~!”

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

「The 29th of Sylven.

By now, spatial mana scans should be proceeding as ordered by Miss Freya. Equalisers designated control and given the duty to maintain astral balance from ringworlds had kept everything within its revolutionary grasps. Propagating ripples in the mana fields all across the Hypercluster, anything that matched the mana patterns of the crystals would be recorded.

Holograms filled the Equaliser’s command center with multiple arrays of consoles and windows working their way through the volumes of data collected.

However, once the data of the cursory scans had been compiled and merged into one, tens of thousands of points littered on the mercators astral projection map, contrary to our expectations. Everyone inside the factional base was amazed by what the astral projections heralded.」

“That’s...!?!”

“This many were disseminated without anyone noticing?!? That’s absolutely ridiculous!!! Exactly how many of those miscreants have broken in???”

“Tch. Contact all divisional heads of the Retinue!! Get them to perform a collective identity check in secrecy and pool the data from the Rings of all personnel!! If any unidentified registries appear, extradite them to the astral prison!!”

“Yes, Ma'am!”

“My~, aren’t you in full commander mode, Charl~?”

“This is a serious predicament we're in. We have to get serious as well, Miss Freya. Oh right, are the Institute’s results in already??”

“Yes, they are!”

“So, what are these crystals?”

“The Institute does not know!”

“Na–?!?!! What do you mean they don’t know?!??”

“They failed to break down the rite sequence and formation of the spell configurations. Rites that were far too complex for our current technology to decipher.”

“Impossible... high-level Rite Casting?? No, maybe even higher... Then could the magic circuits be encrypted??”

“It cannot be said until further examination since it's still in the process of being broken down further. At any rate, if the purport of those crystals aren’t understood within the next week, they will either have to be quarantined in spatial isolation or thoroughly destroyed, which I think would be a shame.”

“How about the origins of the crystals? Their creators?”

“No such evidence has been found either.”

“Damn it! Just who in the world is doing this and what’s their objective???”

“Now now, Charlotte... you should cool down your head a little and calmly think about this.”

“Hold on, why am I taking the reins? This is what Miss Freya should be doing instead?”

“That’s no good! Who'll be in charge when I'm not around?? As my junior, you'll need to be able to take over if a situation requires attention like now.”

“You're just saying whatever you want to say so that you push all the work on me... Miss Freya, could you please do something...?”

“Well then, temporary captain-in-command, give me your orders. What's our step?”

“Haaaahhhhh... Miss Freya, please send out an assistance request for the Guardians. A legion of mages should do, so tell them to prepare for a subjugation mission and dispatch them within half a day.”

“Hmm... a little hasty don't you think? Whatever should I request I wonder??? I haven’t been given any more details to relay~.”

“Aaaahhh!!! You already know what I mean!!?!”

“You can’t just assume everyone will understand what you mean just by being told~. What if they are a spy? What if they send out the wrong instructions?”

“As if... I know who I’m talking to and there's no chance of there being a spy among us.”

“What if I'm the spy undercover in illusion magic???”

“The fact that you ask is proof enough that you’re not!!! Miss Freya, please stop messing around, for goodness sake...”

“My~, fufufufu~, Charlotte's the one that ought to relax. You’re acting way too on edge as the person who's in command. It’ll affect your subordinates if you’re too tense all the time – remember that. Well then, I'd better do as I'm told by my commander, right??? Otherwise I might get told off~ ~!”

“Please do so... and take this seriously!!!!”

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

“What!?!? The captives all committed suicide!?! How could that be?!!”

Elsewhere in the Union, Yuuto Amamiya – the head of the Amamiya Family – was situated in his office inside Central Alyvion. In a back-and-forth with his younger brother – the father of Yuki – the gravity of the situation within the Heavenly Palace had progressed for the worst in an unprecedented way.

【 “We did not anticipate this either, Nii-san. It was like their lives were cut short all of a sudden... No signs of magic use nor any harm done to the prisoner’s bodies. No foreign substances either.” 】

“Then how in the world did they manage to... No, there’s simply no way...”

【 “Nii-san, you might be correct thinking of it that. But no matter how one puts it, this is a very disconcerting scenario.” 】

“Sacrificial Contracts... to think they'd still be in circulation... Kaito, did the contracts remain after death?”

【 “I hate to say that we haven’t been able to confirm a single pact forged upon the miscreants, unfortunately.” 】

“Tch. What incisive bastards. There’s this happening over here, then there’s the embroiling issues back in Miyagi.”

【 “Ahaha… About that, Otō-san has already made a decision. I’ll be the one showing myself to those old relics at Miyagi. There’s no need to worry.” 】

“Is that so? I’ll leave things in your care. I’m being held up by work that requires my attention at the Central. Kaito, take care of the crystals plaguing the Hypercluster.”

[ “Yeah, leave it to me.” 】

The video transmission was cut just as Yuuto reclined in his chair, rotating it around in order to look out to the hyperscape beyond the windows. In his mind, a myriad of thoughts juggled around along with the various problems that needed resolving.

“Haah~, what a pain…”

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

「That same day, a legion of mages diffused throughout the Heavenly Sky Palace's Hypercluster.

Me and Charlotte were aboard the central warpship in command of the fleet of battle starships that were sent across the cosmos. Currently, this warpship was in the orbit of a main sequence star at a fair distance.

As the different divisions of the liaison hurried to eliminate all the recognised crystals of mana embedded with powerful rites, I tried to think more deeply about the motive behind this aggression on the deck of the warpship out in open space.

There was something off about all this.

It’s as if the enemy was letting the crystals be destroyed.

A futile attempt of a set up for whatever the purpose of those spell rites were, contained in the crystal as it's medium.

Letting the crystals go, pointlessly sacrificing their soldiers, aimlessly enacting a useless ploy.

What meaning is there behind all this?

Was it really just a hoax? Merely wasting time and resources? It'd be so disappointing were it to be the case...」

“It really~ doesn’t make any sense, now does it, Charl~???”

“These mana crystals are simply taking in Elyiere's mana. There’s the possibility that they're trying to disturb the control in mana flow within the many superclusters of the Heavenly Sky Palace.”

“Assuming that’s their real goal, what point is there in doing that? Chaos could be incited by simply attacking the ringworlds of our equalisers. There'd be no need for them to deliberately go out of their way and place these tiny mana crystals around everywhere for something so grand. It's ridiculously inefficient.”

“Certainly, it stands to no reason whatsoever. In that case, what are the chances that this is just part of a bigger picture we cannot yet perceive?”

“Nn~, well aren’t you're stating the obvious, Charl~? That’s what I'm trying to uncover...”

“Haha... I don’t have much to offer. We can only speculate based on what little we have seen.”

“Haahh... then try to think ahead a little... Nn–??”

「My, of all things… What stopped my prattling were multiple flares of convoluted holes that popped open all around us. They appeared to be portals that might be connecting two or more separate spatial co-ordinates.

Furthermore, I sensed far too many a number of Ods laying in wait. They seemed ready to gallivant straight into the territory of the Heavenly Sky Palace. This was a problem in more ways than one–

–and a problem in more ways than one were abundantly many.

Oh dear, this could horribly go wrong...」

“ –!?? Impossible!!! Ellis Wormholes?!?!”

「Ellis Wormholes. In other words, holes in space where you could safely go through one side to the other. Not the danger kinds of wormholes. These Ellis Wormholes have a stable space-time geometry that do not have event horizons, monstrous gravity that collapses in on itself nor a singularity where everything becomes infinitesimally small.

Basically, the perfect medium for travelling vast cosmic distances. Sounds great, right?

Nope! That’s where all the bad news is at!

If these wormholes were appearing that meant that someone over at the Equaliser’s Supercluster was acting up against us.」

“It can’t be… they’d even go that far?? Tch, Miss Freya, let me and Legion take care of this.”

“Hmm… let those warpships enter the Heavenly Sky Palace, then you can take them on. But of all things, to think that this is what we're having to go up against…”

「Out came hundreds of platoons boarding multiple fighter warpships – streamline in shape and bellicose in design – from each puncture in space.」

“Right back at'cha, Young Miss. We don’t wanna be doing this, but orders are orders.”

「A man with a baritone voice spoke out the opposition of his troop like a faithfully blind dog. It seems that he might be the leader of this ambush, which means that he'll have to go down first. But that'll take far too much effort.」

“Ehhh... Why not? It’s the first time in forever we get to annihilate others. Heck, we're up against the Servants and Guardians of Amamiya! This is well worth it!”

「Oh? Another voice grated the air that came from the squeaky brat beside him. They were talking up a storm from behind their incognito suits hiding their profiles.」

“Oi, ya little shit. If that’s what you want, then fuck your ass off to the Galactic Garrisons at Amamiya.”

“That place is no fun. It’s full of war, bloodshed and powerful mages... Can’t really do any assassination there.”

“Why did our boss put you in this line of work then? We’re not assassinating anyone, so why the fuck are you here?”

“He put me in ‘cuz I've got my reasons.”

“Well fuck you and your reasons. Alright! All members: remember to aim for the head!”

“““““Yeahh!!!!”””””

「It seems like they’ve finally decided to take the offence. Shouting out in unison, the opposition made their intent quite clear to us. However, it’s not like we can just let them do as they please…」

“Uhh... did we really have to listen to them spouting such nonsense?”

“It was inevitable. We had to wait for all of them to round themselves up for their own demise. After all, didn’t I just say how troublesome this is? 『Parsec Veil』.”

「Out on the deck of the warpship, I raised my hand and conjured a protective yet fragile verdant barrier that literally stretched over an entire parsec, separating us and the enemy. Leaving enough time to recall a few Guardians, we had to reinstate our positions before facing off the promulgating army in front of us. We were heavily outnumbered.」

“A barrier?!? Manarea Squad!!!”

“““““Roger!”””””

「Whoever that grim-looking man with tactical goggles on his eyes and a lightsaber in his hand was, I couldn’t believe he simply got surprised from just a measly barrier.

What a fatal blunder. Ordering his unit of mages into action, the sky lit up with the incantation of magic. Is he and his client making fun of us or something? Do they not... do they not know who they are up against...???」

“Ara~ ara, it appears that we of the Heavenly Sky Palace's Retinue have been made a mockery of... All~ units, prepare~ to disengage!~!! Keep up a de~fensive barricade~ and by all means, do not attack!!”

“Wha–!?!? But Miss Freya–”

“I have made myself ve~ry clear! There’s no other person among the Equaliser Ringworlds we can trust apart from Miss Ruina. Send an urgent request to her and only her for Stellar Migration and to designate a Manalised Deep Field around our spatial coordinates. We’ll also need to hold them back until all the stars within a few warpxes of this star system are moved away through Stellar Migration. After all, there’s no need for any collateral destruction ✩.”

「Fufu ✩!! These cretins have no idea what they’re headed for!」

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