The Asterisk War, Vol. 6: The Triumphal Homecoming Battle

by Yuu Miyazaki

  “In that case, he’s most likely going to try again on the road back to the airport…”

  An attack on that mountain road could turn into a real problem.

  Ayato startled. “Where’s Claudia?” he asked, suddenly remembering something he had to ask her.

  His memories were hazy, but he remembered what she had said to Gustave. It seemed likely that she knew more about what was going on than she had told them.

  “Oh, she went home.”

  “Wha—?”

  “She said something came up, and she had to drop by somewhere. She seemed to be in a bit of a hurry, though.”

  “Is that so…?” It looked like she hadn’t mentioned her conversation with Gustave to the others.

  I’ll try to call her later…

  It was Claudia, after all, so she must have had some sort of plan, but he wanted to hear what it was first.

  But it was then that, all of a sudden, his stomach let out a loud growl.

  “Ah…”

  It was understandable that he would be hungry, given how long he had been asleep, but it still left him slightly embarrassed.

  Saya, Kirin, and Julis all glanced at one another, bursting into laughter.

  “Well, it’s a good thing you’ve still got your appetite. I’ll ask the kitchen to prepare something for you. Just hold on a moment, okay?” Julis chuckled, wiping away the tears at the corners of her eyes. She stood up to leave, when—

  “P-p-p-princess! Terrible news!”

  —Flora burst into the room in a panic.

  CHAPTER 6

  SUBDUING DRAGONS

  “What is it, Flora? Didn’t you go back to the orphanage?”

  Julis frowned, bending down to meet the young maid’s gaze in an attempt to calm her down.

  “Y-yes! At least, I meant to, but there’s something horrible happening in the city!”

  “Something horrible?”

  “Um, I mean, there’s all these huge lizard things flying through the air!” she exclaimed frantically, spreading her arms as wide as they would go to emphasize their size. “I was so scared, I came right back!”

  There was no way of telling exactly how large they were, but she must have meant they were around the size of an adult person.

  “Everyone’s in a panic, and all the traffic has stopped!”

  “They aren’t attacking anyone, are they?”

  “N-no, I don’t think so…”

  Julis sighed in relief. “All right, Flora. Stay in the villa. You’ll be safe here,” she said reassuringly, before turning to the others. “My brother must know what’s going on. I need to talk to him. I might have to go outside before coming back, though, depending on the situation…”

  “In that case, I’m going with you. I need to get changed, though. Can you wait a minute?” Ayato got out of the bed, stretching his body. His prana seemed to have returned to normal, and he didn’t feel any pain or discomfort.

  “Ah!” Flora gasped. “I’ll go get you a change of clothes!”

  “But, Ayato, you’re still—”

  “I’m fine. More importantly, it sounds like this is Gustave’s doing, so you can’t say that it doesn’t concern us all. But what will you do, Saya, Kirin?” Ayato asked as he put on his shirt.

  “I’m going, too.”

  “Me too.”

  The two nodded immediately.

  Julis flashed everyone a strained smile. “All right. Let’s get ready, then.”

  But they didn’t need any encouragement, and the four soon set off for the Royal Palace.

  As they were entering Jolbert’s room, they exchanged glances with several tense officials who were hurrying off in the other direction. One, an elderly man wearing a difficult-to-read expression, took notice of Julis, but nonetheless rushed off with the others.

  “Ah, it’s you,” Jolbert said. Perhaps he had been woken from a nap by the previous group, as he looked tired. “I guess you came to ask about what’s going on in the city, right? Well, you picked a good moment. I just got a report on the situation.”

  “What’s going on?” Julis demanded.

  “It looks like a bunch of powerful creatures, each about a meter long, popped up out of nowhere in the city center. We don’t know how many there are in total yet, but there seems to be at least a dozen. Winged lizards—well, dragons, I suppose,” Jolbert answered, holding back a yawn. “We’ve contacted Solnage and Frauenlob, but they’re taking their time to respond. Honestly, I doubt they want to send in troops. Thankfully, these dragons don’t seem to be attacking anyone at the moment, so the police force is managing to maintain order. Maybe our friends in the integrated enterprise foundations have decided that they’re not much of a threat…,” he grumbled. “But we can’t just ignore the situation. Given how many there are, the police force has mobilized everyone they can to try to respond to it. So that’s what’s going on.”

  “…Everyone?” Julis raised an eyebrow. “Even the people assigned to be preparing for an attack by Gustave Malraux?”

  “Of course. I mean, he’s the one responsible for this, isn’t he? They were deployed precisely for this kind of situation, so it’s only natural, right? Ah, I did ask them to leave the security here and at the other important areas alone, of course, so you don’t need to worry—”

  “I see.” Julis clicked her tongue in annoyance, without even waiting for her brother to finish. “You do realize that this is a diversion, right?”

  “A diversion? But in that case, there would be easier ways about it…”

  The situation didn’t seem so urgent that the students would have to deal with it themselves, but Julis, her eyelids clenched shut, shook her head. “It may be a diversion, but it isn’t to lure us out. It’s supposed to draw the others away. They’re decoys. If everyone falls for it and heads for the city center, everywhere else is inevitably going to be shorthanded.”

  “But that doesn’t make any sense,” Saya said doubtfully. “Jolbert just said that he’d had the security at all the important areas left alone…” She fell silent, her eyes opening wide. “Oh no.”

  “Right,” Julis spat in disgust. “The important areas. Tell me, brother, was that what those people before us came to talk with you about?”

  “…Ha, you’ve got me there.” Jolbert shrugged, looking up at the ceiling. “That’s very perceptive of you, little sister. Like I just said, we’re shorthanded at the moment. So they wanted to pull the police back from wherever possible to focus on the situation at hand. Naturally, the poorer areas were at the top of that list. They didn’t want to expend resources there to begin with.”

  “…And did you approve this plan?”

  “What else could I do? It isn’t like they don’t have a point. Things haven’t gotten too bad yet, but what will we do if these dragons start attacking people? If we don’t deal with them right away, it could explode in all our faces.”

  “But that’s—”

  “Julis. I like Flora, too, you know, and I want to do what I can to help this orphanage you’re so fond of. But even so, I can’t change my priorities. After all, you’re what’s most important to me.” Jolbert met his sister’s gaze, his voice low, as if admonishing her. “Won’t you listen to me for once, and stay here where it’s safe?”

  “…No!” Julis declared bluntly, storming out of the room.

  Ayato and the others rushed after her, catching up as she slammed her fist against the wall of the corridor.

  Her face was red with anger, mana buzzing uncontrollably around her.

  “Julis, calm down,” Ayato urged.

  “…I’m fine,” she muttered, taking a deep breath. She brushed the hair out of her face with her hand, before turning to the others. “Gustave must have known that we would recognize this for what it is. He’ll be waiting for us in the shantytown. But I still have to go. The sisters are at the orphanage. They aren’t safe… But just so you know, you don’t have to come with me.”

  “What are you saying?�
�� Ayato responded with a grin.

  “…This concerns us all.” Saya nodded.

  “That’s right. You’re not the only one he’s after,” Kirin added.

  Julis brightened at her friend’s words, her face turning serious. “In that case, I have a plan. But I need you all to do as I say.”

  The night wind over the lake was especially cold. All the more so when flying as fast as they were against it.

  “So this is that shortcut you mentioned… It is fast, huh…,” Ayato murmured.

  He was flying just inches above the surface of the lake, thanks to numerous pairs of fiery wings that Julis had made sprout from his back.

  “Th-this is just one of them. I was using a different way, up until I was able to master this technique. Anyway, given the situation, this has to be the fastest way to get there…,” Julis, held tight in Ayato’s arms, whispered softly.

  “Julis? What is it?”

  “N-nothing! I—I mean, your face is too close!” She blushed, trying to push him away.

  “S-sorry…”

  “…W-well, anyway, we can cross the lake in less than five minutes this way. Let’s just focus on that for now.”

  The moon swayed gently, reflected on the water’s faint ripples.

  To the east, the lights from Strell shone brilliantly over the lake.

  There were very few lights shining in the shantytown on the opposite side, the direction they were headed.

  “There it is.” Julis pointed, the silhouette of the tall church on the grounds of the orphanage rising up in the darkness.

  “…Huh?”

  In front of the orphanage, standing atop an ugly concrete dike at the edge of the lake, a shadow of a man stood waiting.

  “Well now, what do we have here? You came faster than I was expecting.”

  “Gustave Malraux…!” Julis muttered, gritting her teeth.

  “But I did know you would come, of course.”

  “You’d better not have laid a finger on anyone at the orphanage.” Julis shot him a piercing glare.

  Gustave laughed softly. “Don’t worry. To be honest with you, I can’t say that the thought hadn’t occurred to me, but it looks like there’s a rather formidable sister living among them all. I don’t have time to deal with her.”

  “Hmph… Good,” Julis muttered as she and Ayato reached the ground.

  They had landed around five meters from Gustave. Just a step closer, and he would be within Ayato’s range.

  “They’re no concern of mine. I only needed to lure you all out. And my little Colchian dragons that I sent to play in the city are harmless, so long as they’re not attacked. After all, I wouldn’t want to hurt anyone at the integrated enterprise foundations, now would I?”

  “…You’re very talkative, Gustave Malraux. Why don’t you tell us who sent you on this stupid errand?” Julis growled, mana swirling around her.

  Ayato pulled out the Ser Veresta, crouching down.

  “My, my, I am a pro, you realize. Do give me some credit. But instead—” He stopped short, seeming to be completely unfazed, spreading his arms wide in an elaborate gesture.

  At that moment, a huge magic square appeared beneath the lake’s surface. Ayato couldn’t tell exactly how large it was, but it must have been at least thirty meters across.

  “Allow me to introduce you to my greatest masterpiece.”

  The square emitted a sudden flash of light, and a swarm of tentacle-like snake heads burst out of the water—nine in total.

  “Wha—?!”

  Ayato and Julis stood in mute shock at the size of the figure rising slowly out of the lake.

  It was no exaggeration to say that it was as large as a small hill, the monster’s nine snake heads growing out of a body that resembled a four-legged dinosaur. It was still half-submerged beneath the water, but its body alone was over twenty meters across, so its total length, from head to tail, could easily have been more than forty.

  It slightly resembled the dragon-like creature Ayato and Kirin had encountered in Asterisk’s ballast area several months prior, but there was no comparison as far as size was concerned. The creature rising in front of them now was easily twice as large, at least.

  Its many pairs of eyes burned crimson, its mouths, each lined with razor-sharp teeth, were wide enough to swallow a car whole, let alone a person.

  “A Hydra?!” came Julis’s stifled voice.

  “Indeed, Your Highness, indeed.” Gustave nodded gleefully. “It’s just like in the ancient myths—no, even grander, wouldn’t you say? It’s the ultimate magical beast. It took me a full three years to create.”

  At that, the nine heads each reared high into the air, bellowing a terrible roar that left the air itself quaking around them.

  People must have begun to discover the monster rising out of the lake, as the shantytown, until now silent under the deathlike gloom of night, erupted into a great commotion, screams and roars of terror beginning to echo out from every direction.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?! If you set something like this loose, the army will have to step in!”

  In fact, given its size, they were probably already deploying.

  “I wonder?” Gustave laughed, his composure unshaking. “Thanks to that little incident in the Royal Palace the other day, Solnage and Frauenlob ought to have already understood that this was my doing. And of course, they’ll know why I’m here.”

  “—!”

  Gustave cleared his throat, as if to hold back more laughter. “I’m sure it’ll be a nuisance for them, too, if you were to participate in the Gryps. Of course, they’ll have no choice but to respond if my Hydra was to attack the city… But a place like this? An abandoned little ghetto for abandoned people? I think you’ll find the integrated enterprise foundations rather slow to respond.”

  “…” Julis stood silent, biting her lip.

  That alone confirmed that Gustave was speaking was the truth.

  “Be that as it may, who knows what will happen if we take too long here? So let’s get this over with, shall we?” he said.

  The Hydra opened one of its nine mouths, a huge amount of mana building up inside its gaping maw.

  That’s…!

  “Ayato! Look out!” Julis cried in warning as he jumped aside.

  Barely a second later, a deafening burst of light shot out of the Hydra’s mouth, blowing away a swath of concrete as it gouged through the dike.

  “…That kind of power… It’s like one of Saya’s Luxes…,” Ayato murmured. If he had been hit by it, he wouldn’t have been able to escape unscathed even if he had used his prana to defend himself.

  “Well then, it’s time I excused myself. Have fun,” Gustave said, disappearing into the darkness behind him.

  “Argh!”

  Julis moved to chase after him, when the Hydra let out an ear-splitting roar as it released another burst of light directly in her path.

  “Julis, watch out!” Ayato cried, grabbing her in his arms and dodging the blast just in time.

  “Th-thanks…,” she whispered.

  “Forget about Gustave for now. We have to do something about this thing first.”

  He glanced up at the creature, still approaching them. Now that it had climbed out of the lake, it towered over them like a skyscraper.

  It took one lumbering step after another, the earth trembling as it made its way through the shantytown, smashing through first one crude shelter, then the next.

  And directly in its path was the orphanage.

  If that was what it was heading for, it must have known that Julis would never abandon it.

  “Damn him! So he’s saying that if I want to protect them, I’m going to have to fight this thing?” Julis cursed, her temper rising dangerously.

  “Julis! Make sure all the residents get out of here!”

  “What?! Don’t tell me you’re planning to stop that thing by yourself?”

  “Don’t worry about that! I’ll think of something!
And it looks like Saya’s almost ready.”

  “But…,” she hesitated, looking unconvinced.

  “I don’t know this area very well, and besides, the people here will listen to you.”

  “…All right,” she relented. “But don’t do anything stupid.” Wings of flame sprouted from her back as she took off.

  After watching her disappear out of his line of sight, Ayato climbed to the roof of a nearby building to survey the situation. The Hydra was moving directly toward the orphanage, paying no heed at all to the buildings in its way, carving an open route through the townscape. It was rather slow on its feet, though, so he would probably have enough time to stop it before it got there.

  Running along the tops of the buildings alongside that gash, he caught up to it in no time at all.

  “Right, now what…?”

  He kept his distance from the Hydra, keeping pace with its movements as he looked for an opening—but it looked like dealing with it would be more difficult than he had anticipated. It was indeed quite slow compared to the other creatures that Gustave had summoned, but its nine heads seemed able to lash out in every direction, without leaving so much as a single blind spot. If he didn’t plan his attack carefully, it would be sure to counter any move he made.

  Against such a gargantuan opponent, he would have no choice but to use buildings’ roofs as footholds to launch his jump attacks. He wouldn’t be able to change his trajectory once he was in the air, though, so it would be difficult to evade any counterattacks. Even entering the state of shiki wouldn’t help him there.

  “I guess I’ll have to take it down piece by piece,” he muttered, catching his breath, before leaping into the creature’s reach.

  “Guoooooooooooo!”

  The Hydra came to a stop, three of its heads releasing blinding bursts of light toward him with a terrible roar.

  Ayato twisted through the air, dodging them all by only a hair’s breadth, as he swung the Ser Veresta.

  “Giiiiiiiiiiiiiii!”

  A deafening wail tore through the night sky as the blade sliced clean through the closest head.