The Sovereign Phrase

"It is unknown whether there was a Gollem made with the same model

as myself. Therefore, I cannot answer."

I found Gold in the castle together with Steph and asked him about the

other gold crown we saw, but he knew nothing.

"Well, Gold did have his memories erased when he was rebooted, so I

expected this," Doc Babylon said, taking in the reality of the situation

without looking even the slightest bit dejected.

Gollems, especially legacy Gollems, had the option to clear their data

when rebooted. That meant all of their built-up knowledge and records

would be deleted, so under normal circumstances, no one would choose that

option. If you got rid of all of that, you'd have to start from scratch—their

fighting capabilities, interpersonal skills, and any learned knowledge would

be completely discarded.

If a Gollem was in sleep mode for too long, it would forcibly reset its

data, but if it still had any records remaining in it, there was no reason not

to keep them.

Gold was in sleep mode when he ended up crossing to our time, and he

still retained his data at the time, but apparently, Steph ended up deleting it

all when she activated him. That meant valuable information from five

thousand years ago had disappeared just like that. He still retained

fundamental knowledge, such as his own specs, but that was why he didn't

know about any other gold crown possibly existing.

"What about you, Silver? Do you know anything?" Kuon asked the

silver crown resting in his hands where he sat on the couch next to Steph.

"Nah, never heard nothin'. Ya gotta remember that Chrom's one of those

guys who just loses interest in the stuff he makes the second he finishes. He

ain't the kinda guy to make the same thing twice. Uh, though if he made

two of 'em as one project, that'd maybe be a bit different."

So the gold crown could be a twin unit? Or one was a copy and the other

was the actual crown? I had no clue. What we did know was that the

wicked devout also had a Gollem that resembled the gold crown for some

reason. And it was most likely one that had not lost its data, which meant

the chance existed that it had knowledge of Chrom Ranchesse. I could only

hope that it didn't bite us in the butt later.

That said, Silver was also a crown Gollem that hadn't had his data

cleared. In his case, though, he was kept confined in Ranchesse's laboratory

for most of his life, so he had little information to provide. Besides, he was

an Artificer, so he wouldn't have had a conscience at the time of his

creation, which meant his memories were all hazy.

Regardless, there was something he still remembered: Ranchesse had

been researching how to use the black and white crown skills without

paying the price, and so, he had created the gold and silver crowns as

support.

"I'm just throwin' out a random guess here, but I'd assume that I came

about through research into the sproutin' of an ego upon the fusion of a

Gollem and an Artificer."

"You do come across as more human than the other crowns."

"Right? I'm actually pretty darn incredible if ya ask me."

Even if Silver's personality was nothing more than a pseudo-personality,

it was amazing. Among even anthropomorphic Gollems, very few had

advanced to his extent. It was proof of how high his capability to learn was.

"Well, I've already created artificial lifeforms that are capable of far

more than that. Cesca, more tea."

"I quite like this immature side of you, Doctor. Nice to meet you, I'm a

much more capable artificial life."

"Gngh!"

Clearly showing off her superiority, Cesca poured tea into her master's

empty cup.

You guys are so immature.

Still, she wasn't lying. The Babylon Numbers (including Doc Babylon's

body) were much more advanced artificial lifeforms. They didn't have any

special abilities like the Gollem Skills, but their ability to learn was far

more advanced than a regular human.

"I guess this leaves us with no clue as to what that Gollem on the Ark is,

though."

The natural conclusion was that it was the same type of unit. Like maybe

one was a failed attempt, and the other was a success? But if we kept

raising baseless suggestions like this, there would be no end in sight.

"Next is deciding how to deal with that Gluttony Slime. Any ideas?"

"Wouldn't it up and die if we used your [Prison] to confine it, then

teleport it into a volcano?"

"But I thought there were Slimes that could survive in volcanic areas."

Like Red Slimes and Flame Slimes and I think there were Magma

Slimes as well? Ones that lived in, well, magma. Wouldn't it be impossible

if it had similar properties to them?

"Theeen, what about just throwing it into a [Prison] and then making it

smaller 'til it's smooshed?"

It was the simplest option. [Prison] could shrink together with what was

inside, ultimately compressing and crushing the contents.

If it was a Slime, then it had to have a core, so all I had to do was crush

that and the deed would be done.

"So are we going to infiltrate the Ark directly after all?"

"If we don't do something about the diver guy, there's a good chance

they'll just make their escape, so the first thing we need to do is seal his

sacred treasure with ours."

My sacred treasure's range of effect was about fifty meters at most.

There was no way that could cover the whole of the Ark, which left us with

no choice but to infiltrate it and get as close to the diver guy as possible.

"So we are sneaking in?"

"Yeah, we pretty much have to..."

How would we infiltrate the place, though? It would practically be a

death sentence if we tried to enter it the same way the probe did. Best case

scenario would be to have the diver helmet guy just wander on out without

us needing to do anything, but that obviously wasn't going to happen.

If I used a divinity-enhanced warp to cross the barrier into the Ark,

would that be safe? It wasn't as though I was directly interfering with the

surface world, right?

"Regardless, we still need time to work on the Valkyries and your

Reginleif. Let's just continue observing the Ark for now."

True. May as well put this aside until they're done. Just need to make

sure we don't end up too relaxed. If they make any moves, we need to be

available to intervene right away.

Suddenly my phone started ringing.

Hm? From King Frost? This is rare.

"Hello?"

"Greetings, Your Grace. There has been another sighting of the Phraselike creature we previously discussed."

"Huh?"

Was he referring to that big ice snail? But I thought we had concluded

that it was just a Cold Snail.

"I have heard that it was in the form of a horse this time. But rather than

having a clear body like ice, it was slightly purple."

"A...purple Phrase?"

What could that be about? If it was gold, I could understand that, since

the Mutated Constructs were the same. But with the wicked god gone, all

the mutants should've turned gray with a few special exceptions. And yet,

this wasn't gold or transparent or gray, but purple? Was this really a Phrase?

According to King Frost, the witness was a local from the village near

where the apparent Cold Snail had been sighted. They had seen a purple

horse fighting with a Four-Armed Bear. It defeated the bear by running it

through with a sharp blade that jutted out from its head, before then leaving

the area without even sparing the body a second glance.

A blade coming from its head does sound like a Phrase...

"Run search: purple Phrase."

"Searching... No matches detected."

Okay, so that was what I expected, which meant it wasn't a Phrase. But

it should've reacted if it at least looked like a Phrase.

The only other thing I could think of was that it had an ability or natural

trait that prevented it from being picked up by search magic, similar to an

amulet. Or it could be that the area was surrounded by some sort of barrier.

Honestly, this sounded less and less like a Phrase the more we discovered,

but something still felt off.

"Has a Phrase appeared?" Kuon asked after I put down the phone.

"Can't say for sure. I'm gonna head off to Zadonia to check myself."

"In that case, may I accompany you? I would like to witness these

Phrase myself."

Well, that was a surprise, coming from Kuon.

...Right, the Phrase were already annihilated by the time the kids were

born, so they wouldn't have seen them before. Was he not content with the

Dominant Construct girls he saw all the time, though?

I didn't have any particular reason to say no, regardless.

"It's unfair if it's just you! I wanna go too!"

Perhaps thinking Kuon was simply going off to play, Steph started

throwing a tantrum.

"No, you cannot," Kuon refused.

"But whyyyyyy?!"

"You promised to study with Mother Sue after this, did you not?

Breaking a promise is a very, very...?"

"Bad thing... I know," Steph mumbled, scrunching up her face.

Wow, look at Kuon being the perfect big brother here.

I was quite touched at the sight, honestly.

"I will at least take pictures while I am there. Be a good girl while I'm

gone, okay?"

"Okay..."

Kuon smiled softly as he gently patted his pouting sister's head.

I couldn't help but feel just the tiniest bit jealous of Kuon in that

moment.

I had a little sister back home too. It was a different world, so I couldn't

just go and meet her whenever I wanted, but I hoped she was doing well.

Sorry your older brother is so useless, Fuyuka.

Would there come a day that I could let my family meet my kids? I

could go to Earth at will if I just managed to perfect the usage of the

dimension warp, but right now, all I could manage was any neighboring

worlds at best. Apparently, it would get easier to control if I made a sacred

treasure to help with it...but for now, all I could do was keep trying my best.

"Shall we be off, Father?"

"...Yeah."

Kuon tied Silver around his waist, then walked toward me.

Thoughts of family back home still clouding my mind, I opened a

[Gate] to Zadonia.

◇◇◇

"Whoa, it's cold...!"

That was Kuon's first words after stepping through the [Gate].

Yeah, no wonder when you're wearing clothes as thin as that.

I was wearing a cold-resistant coat, so I was perfectly fine.

...No, that was a lie, it was freezing.

"Come forth, Heat! Thermal Barrier: [Warming]!"

I used warming magic on both myself and Kuon, since at least that way

we could protect our bodies from the cold.

I had the [Gate] connect to the forest where the purple horse had been

sighted. The sky was filled with dull clouds, but no snow was falling.

Now then, how do I search for a creature that can't be picked up by

[Search]?

"If it is impossible to find any results for a purple horse, what about any

hoofprints left behind?" Kuon suggested, looking at his own footprints from

where he'd come.

Not a bad idea, but the issue then came from whether or not I was able

to distinguish a horse's hoofprints from a deer's. There was no guarantee

the Phrase even left hoofprints like a horse's.

"Maybe if I looked for any unnatural animal carcasses?"

"A word, if I may. Would a fresh carcass in a forest such as this not

immediately be swiped up by a wolf or some other predator?"

Mngh, he's not wrong.

Snowy mountains didn't have much in the way of prey, and Zadonia was

in a perpetual winter. It must be challenging to live in an environment like

this. Any available prey would be immediately snatched up.

"And besides, there's a bit more of a pressin' question here: why was

that purple horse fightin' with the little bear fella in the first place? He

didn't eat it after or nothin'."

According to His Majesty, the horse simply left the bear alone after it

had killed it, which meant it hadn't hunted it as prey. If a wild lion wasn't

hungry, it would simply let its prey stroll on by.

That meant the purple horse fought with the bear even though it wasn't

hungry. If it was a Phrase, then it couldn't even feel hunger, so it made

sense it didn't eat it, but that thought didn't make the situation any less

puzzling.

The objective of the Phrase was to find the Sovereign Core that was

hidden inside a mortal of this land, so they wouldn't eat people, but they

would attack them.

"Basically, what I'm tryna say here is that there had to be some reason

for that horsie to attack our little bear friend. Some sorta reason that it found

the bear a nuisance and would rather it be gone."

A reason to want to remove the bear, as in, it was viewing the bear as a

threat? But why? I couldn't imagine it was something like the bear had

killed its parents. Or well, maybe the possibility was there. But did it even

have feelings like that?

"That would mean it was protecting something from bears and other

wild animals. Maybe a child...?"

Oh, of course!

I had a light bulb above my head the moment I heard Kuon's suggestion,

but the light bulb soon turned into a question mark.

Oh, of course...?

I tilted my head.

A Phrase child? But Phrase didn't have an adolescent phase, they

evolved as crystals from the core and then were instantly born as an adult.

Even Dominant Constructs were born the same way. The only exception to

that had been Allis.

"Well, whatever it is, what if our big ol' horsie's actually huntin' a

number of these beasts? Maybe there's an area where there are reduced

numbers of 'em."

"Oh, yeah! Hey, you're actually pretty smart!"

"Ha ha ha! Ya flatter me!" Silver guffawed from Kuon's belt, morphing

Kuon's face into one of irritation.

"Run search: monsters and wild animals in the area."

"Searching... Search complete."

Red pins dotted themselves all over the map.

Damn, there's quite a lot, huh?

The pins were pretty scattered, but there was one area in particular that

was left blank. Could that be the place?

"That's pretty close to here. Let's go. [Teleport]."

I wrapped my arms around Kuon's shoulders and teleported to the area.

The scenery around us immediately changed, planting us in a dense

coniferous forest.

"Well, I certainly don't see any monsters or wild animals around here."

Though it did feel like a bear could jump out at any moment.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of something whizzing through the air, so I

instinctively pulled out my Brunhild to counter it. With a high-pitched

clang, it deflected off my weapon and hovered in the air in front of me. It

was something purple and translucent, shaped like a belt with a sharp tip.

There was another whoosh as the band returned to where it had come

from: an amethyst horse with six legs. As much as I referred to it as a horse,

it had no eyes, mouth, or ears. It did at least have something resembling a

tail, however.

"There it is."

"Indeed."

It was purple as the sighting suggested, but it still definitely looked like

a Phrase. I could see a dark purple core around the base of its neck, but

something about the core seemed...strange. It looked like some spiky

polyhedron.

The amethyst Phrase kicked the ground with its legs that thinned as they

neared the feet, then charged right at us. Protruding from its forehead was

the same blade that had extended and then contracted like a measuring tape.

"[Apport]."

I cast [Apport] to attempt to quickly extract the Amethyst Phrase's core.

However, nothing came back to me other than thin air.

Magic didn't work against the Phrase. Or more specifically, if magic

struck the surface of its body, it would absorb it and turn it into its own

energy. It essentially worked the same as [Absorb]. What that did mean

was that anything that could interfere with its insides, such as [Apport],

should theoretically work...

And then it occurred to me. [Apport] couldn't forcibly remove that

which it was directly connected to. Or, well, it wasn't that it couldn't, but it

had to be something that I could feasibly pull off with my hands. Bit of a

gruesome example, but it meant that I couldn't pull out something like

someone's liver or heart by itself. I could maybe manage an eyeball, but...I

couldn't say it was something I particularly wanted to try. I could also pull

out bullets or arrows that had entered the body.

A Phrase's core wasn't fused with its crystalline body. If you destroyed

the body, the core would just come tumbling out. However, perhaps this

Amethyst Phrase was different, and its core was integrated with its body

crystals.

Continuing to deflect its sword horn that it kept firing out, I changed

Brunhild to Gun Mode and aimed it at the core to see what would happen.

But before I had the chance to shoot, cracks suddenly appeared in its core

and the horse's body shattered into pieces.

The sudden development left me dazed, mouth wide open.

H-Huh? Why?

When I turned around, I noticed that one of Kuon's eyes was a red-gold.

Ohhh, he broke the core with the Mystic Eye of Compression!

The fact that actually worked almost felt unfair... There was a limit to its

strength, so it may not be possible against anything greater than a Lesser

Construct, but being able to break it just by glaring was an incredible

power...

"Whew, look at you go, kiddo. Showin' up yer dad there. He was

strugglin' and you just beat the thing in one go."

"Hey, I wasn't struggling..."

I was just...observing the situation a little.

I walked over to where the Amethyst Phrase was in pieces while

muttering my excuses and picked up one of the shards.

Hm, it just looks like a regular piece of amethyst.

It was shimmering just like a gemstone. Could this become phrasium,

too? Doc Babylon and Quun would have a field day with it.

I put all the pieces including the shattered core into [Storage], realizing

we'd probably understand it better with research.

"Um, Father?"

"Hm? What's up?"

I turned around and couldn't help the gasp that slipped through my lips.

There were crystal beasts of all colors, red, blue, yellow, purple, green,

and black, all marching toward us.

"Guess the group's here to crash the party."

"It appears so."

Time for me to show my son what I'm really capable of, I thought rather

immaturely to myself as I prepared for battle.

◇◇◇

"Father, there are some on the ground over there, too."

"Got it."

I collected the scattered pieces of colored crystal on the snow and

shoved them all into [Storage].

As ready as I had been to show off, Kuon practically turned it into a oneman massacre. I barely got the chance to do anything. Like, seriously, the

kid could take them down by just glaring at them, how was I meant to beat

that? I did manage to get at least two or three down by myself, though...

Because of that, there were crystals scattered all over the place.

Collecting them all was a pain in the ass. Usually, I could just open up

[Storage] on the ground and have them all drop in, but if I did that here, I'd

get a massive chunk of snow in the process.

Thinking about it, are these crystals actually phrasium?

They honestly seemed closer to gemstones given their color.

I tried flowing magic through one of the shards and, right enough, it had

the same effect as phrasium. It appeared worse in quality than a regular

Phrase's phrasium, though. It hit max mana capacity pretty much right

away, and it wasn't very durable either. It was like fake phrasium.

"Could these be the artificial Phrase that Melle mentioned Yula had been

researching...?"

After collecting the shards of the Gemstone Phrase (as I decided to

tentatively call them), we made our way through the snowy forest to the

center of the monsterless area. Flying wasn't necessarily out of the

question, but with the trees being as dense as they were, it would be hard to

see between them, so searching on foot was the better option.

"Kuon, you doing all right? Make sure to let me know if you start

getting too tired."

I turned back to look at Kuon, who had to march to make his way

through the snow. I could use [Levitation] to carry him if it seemed he was

struggling too much.

"Yes, I am fine. This isn't too bad. Oh, Father, wait a moment."

"Hm? Something happen?"

I heard a crack and turned to the side just in time to see something

looking like a blue Gemstone Phrase crumbling to pieces. Kuon's eye was

shining red-gold.

No, seriously, Kuon must be their worst nightmare by this point.

I made sure to collect the shards of that Phrase as well. It seemed to be

sapphire. Was it ruby and sapphire that were meant to be counterparts?

Suddenly, there was a rustling sound coming from deep within the forest.

Sounded like another horde of them.

Holy shit, just how many of them are there?!

The Gemstone Phrase made their attack without an answer to my

concern. Before I could pull out my Brunhild to fight back, the Gemstone

Phrase were shattered one after another by Kuon's Mystic Eye.

Make way for another one-man massacre...

We made our way through the forest, defeating the Gemstone Phrase

along the way (most of the victories were won by Kuon, admittedly).

Though the number of Phrase attacking us seemed to increase the further

we went, all of a sudden, there stopped being more of them.

Did they just give up...? Yeah, no way.

"I've been having this weird ringing in my ears for a while now. I

wonder what it is..."

"You too, Father?"

It appeared I wasn't alone in hearing that high-pitched ringing. Silver

spoke up as we covered our ears.

"That ain't just any old ringin' in yer ears, I'm afraid. Somethin's lettin'

off all kindsa funny sound waves ahead of us. Most of it's sounds that

regular humans can't pick up, mind you."

Guess that confirmed we were on the right track, at least.

We proceeded with even more caution than before. The moment we

made it out of the forest, we were greeted with a sight that left us

speechless.

There was a massive crater in front of us that was about a hundred

meters in diameter. It wasn't just a regular crater either: several large

crystalline pillars were standing tall inside it like crystal clusters. The sight

of all those colorful pillars was frighteningly beautiful.

Looking closer, I noticed that each of them had cores of the same color

that were about the size of baseballs enclosed in them.

Is this what I think it is?!

"Father, over there."

Kuon was pointing at a yellow pillar that was shattered at its base. The

fallen pillar began crunching as the crystals multiplied, turning into a

yellow crystal bear that stood itself up tall. And then, it was immediately

crushed by Kuon's Mystic Eye.

"Is each and every one of these pillars a Phrase?"

"It appears so. I imagine the ones that attacked us previously came from

here."

Was this how regular Phrase were born, too? When I stole a glance at the

central part of the crater, I saw something standing there. Was it another

crystal pillar? Something about it looked different from the others, though.

It was tall and transparent. Didn't change the fact that it was a square prism

with a pointed tip, though.

Naturally, I didn't feel comfortable just walking right into the middle of

a crater, so I gave Kuon a piggyback and used [Fly] to approach it from the

air.

It looks just like an obelisk. Did this fall here?

The crater and clusters had formed with that pillar as its center, so I felt

like that was a natural conclusion. It would have to have fallen from pretty

far...but when I looked up at the sky, there didn't appear to be anything

unusual.

"Don't tell me... Is that...?!"

"Hm?"

I heard Kuon gasp from behind me. Kuon, acting surprised? Now that

was rare. What happened? It didn't look like there was anything strange to

the obelisk.

...Actually, no, there was something inside it. I couldn't see clearly, but it

looked round. Was it another Gemstone Phrase core?

When I landed in front of the obelisk, Kuon dashed off of my back

toward it.

"As I thought, this has to be the one from back then..."

"What's up? Do you recognize it?" I asked Kuon as he placed his hand

on the obelisk.

There was indeed a Gemstone Phrase-looking core inside of the clear

obelisk, but it was slightly different from the ones we had seen. The

previous cores had been about the size of a baseball, but this was about the

size of a ping-pong ball, and it was a very strange color. It looked red, but

also blue, and also yellow. It looked like a rainbow, I guess.

"This may be what resulted in us arriving in this time."

"Hm...? Weren't you guys sent here 'cause of a timequake, though?"

"Back in the future, we took commissions from the guild on the

weekends. The latest one was to defeat a horde of Kaiser Apes in Belfast

Forest. We approached it almost as if we were off on a picnic."

Hang on, a Kaiser Ape is like an evolved form of a King Ape. That isn't

something you go hunting so casually.

Resisting the urge to retort, I listened to Kuon's story.

◇◇◇

"Prisma Guillotine!"

"[Gravity]!"

"Gwaaaaaah!"

Allis and Linne's coordinated attack sent the Kaiser Ape flying, its body

exploding into pieces.

"Yeaaah! That makes number thirty-four!"

"I defeated it first! That's my thirty-fourth!"

Yakumo, Frei, and Quun all let out deep sighs as the two girls began

arguing over who had actually defeated it.

"How many times do we have to tell you to take them down without

damaging their body parts? Those are precious materials..."

"Yakumo, I have a feeling this is a lost cause."

"Well, Kaiser Apes don't sell for much, so perhaps this isn't such a big

deal."

Or so Quun said, but the amount of money that could be made from

selling the body of a Kaiser Ape could feed a regular family for two whole

years. Her idea of monetary value had clearly been skewed by the costs

involved with magitech.

Despite their somewhat ruined state, Frei put the scattered body parts

into [Storage]. Even if their value had decreased, money was money. It

would be wrong to waste it.

"Arcia, where's the next Kaiser Ape?"

"Umm..." Arcia trailed off, then used [Search] at Yakumo's question.

"There appears to be five to the north."

"Five? I thought we'd hunted quite a lot already. I didn't expect there to

still be so many left," Yakumo muttered.

"Kaiser Apes have explosive reproduction rates once every few decades.

It could be that this was the year for them," Quun explained.

All species of magic beast had a breeding season in which their numbers

increased rapidly if conditions were ideal. This would sometimes result in

all the prey in an area being depleted, so the group would mass migrate to a

different area in search of more food. Predators would then follow their

change in territory, resulting in a stampede. It was for that reason that an

overpopulation of magic beasts was seen as problematic.

"It's not fair for you guys to keep all the fun to yourselves! I wanna hunt

them too!"

"But Steph, you'll just end up destroying all the trees around here."

Steph's main fighting style involved encasing herself in [Prison] and

then using [Accel] to do a tackle at high speeds. It was very simple, but if

she used that in the middle of a dense forest, she would end up destroying

all the trees unfortunate enough to be in her path. It was a troublesome

destruction of the environment.

"I intend to make sure I gather any of the trees that Steph knocks down

to sell wholesale to the lumber yard, so it is no issue," Kuon somewhat

clumsily followed up.

"No, I...think there's still an issue," Elna replied with an awkward smile.

Kuon likely thought that so long as the wood didn't go to waste, it was

fine, but deforestation to that level wasn't a good thing.

"Are you listening? This is an official commission, so be careful. Steph,

make sure you pay attention to your surroundings as well, you hear me?"

Yakumo scolded.

"Yeees," Linne, Allis, and Steph all responded somewhat dejectedly.

"Okay, in that case—"

"Hold on. Can you hear that?" Yoshino asked, interrupting me.

"What?"

Yoshino looked upward, then put a hand to her ear. Though not quite as

sensitive as her mother's, Yoshino's hearing was better than the average

person's, and right now, something had caught her ear. Everyone held their

breath, remaining silent. The sound of the twittering birds, the leaves

rustling in the breeze... Sounds of nature came at them from all sides, but

nothing seemed particularly strange.

"It's coming from that direction. It sounds like something being broken

into two... Listen, there it is again."

Everyone tried their best to hear what Yoshino was pointing out, but

they simply couldn't.

"I can't hear anything myself, but if you say there's something there,

Yoshino, then I have no reason to doubt," Quun replied. "Shall we go see

what it is?"

Kuon nodded and said, "Yes, that would be a good idea. We are aware of

where the Kaiser Apes are, so we should have no issue returning to them."

As there were no objections, Yoshino walked in the direction of the

sound and everyone followed. When they finally reached a clearing in the

forest, that was floating in front of them.

A crack in space.

The crack looked as if it was in a mirror or a piece of glass, and the

sounds of it shattering never ceased as it grew bigger and bigger.

"What is this?"

Having never seen such a sight before, the children's eyes were glued to

it. If their parents had seen this, there was no doubt they would've instantly

backed away.

Eventually, the sound of glass cracking reverberated through the area,

the space in front of them shattered apart, and a massive gash was left

floating there. Something was dripping out of it. It was some sort of clear

liquid, but thick and gloopy almost like a Slime. It kept leaking out of the

tear and dripping onto the ground. The puddle that had formed started

rippling.

"Is it a Slime?" Arcia wondered.

"Do you not think it's a little big for a Slime?" Yoshino replied.

She was right. A regular Slime was about the perfect size for a bucket,

but this slime was about the size of three or four of them.

"I have heard of Big Slimes before, but..."

The Big Slimes that Quun mentioned were Slimes that were larger than

usual without being Behemoths. When a large gathering of Slimes remained

in the same area for a long time, they eventually combined into one huge

Slime. However, these Big Slimes were slow to move and easy to discover,

so they were dealt with pretty swiftly.

"Are we sure this is a Slime...? If it is, I feel like it would be a Water

Slime."

"The ones that camouflage themselves as bodies of water? It's

transparent, so you could be right."

Allis nodded her head at Elna's deduction. Water Slimes often

camouflaged themselves as puddles or other bodies of water in order to

capture their prey. They were cowardly little things, never attacking

anything bigger than themselves. They weren't normally a danger to

humans, but if they grew as big as this, then that changed things.

"Hey, it's moving!" Frei exclaimed.

When everyone turned to look, a part of the Slime suddenly stretched

toward the children in the shape of a spear, arcing through the air straight at

them.

However, before that transparent spear could find its mark, Kuon's eyes

shone a yellow-gold, halting its advance.

That was Kuon's Mystic Eye of Immobilization at work.

"Hiyah!"

Yakumo unsheathed her katana and slashed the Slime's tentacle right in

two. When Kuon blinked, the petrified body part fell to the ground,

dropping with a weightier sound than expected. Frei tapped it with her

spear, and it gave off a metallic twang.

"The part we cut off immediately hardened. Is that what happens when

it's removed from its body? Are Slimes always like this?" Frei asked, tilting

her head.

"Slimes do come in various types, so it could just be a unique one..."

Quun replied. "Though given it literally came from a tear in space, I doubt

we can view this as a regular Slime."

That unique Slime was still squirming, but it didn't appear to be

planning to attack like before.

Is it cautious of us? Yakumo thought to herself.

"Wait, look there! There's something round inside it!" Linne exclaimed

as she pointed at around the middle of the Slime where there appeared to be

a small, round metallic object about the size of a ping-pong ball. It was

changing into all different colors, from red to blue to yellow to purple.

"Is this like a Gollem's core?" Quun pondered to herself. "In that case,

we may be able to defeat it if we destroy the core."

Yakumo and Frei nodded in agreement and brandished their weapons as

they advanced.

The Slime, meanwhile, only backed away slightly. Its undulations had

become much less violent, almost looking weakened.

"...Something's strange about this little guy."

Kuon frowned at his little sister's sudden observation.

"Well...yes? I can't say I've ever seen a Slime like this before."

"I don't mean like that. I can kinda understand what it's feeling. It's like

it's...protecting something?"

"What? Steph, what do you mean you can understand what it's feeling?"

Before Steph could answer her brother though, there was a sudden loud

bang and the kids were hit with a force as if something had exploded. And

yet, even though it was strong enough to knock them off their feet, they felt

no pain.

Having lost their sense of balance, they had no idea where they were

standing anymore. By the time they'd regained their senses, they were all in

different positions than before—though not completely different locations,

just positioned either a few more meters forward or backward.

"Look at the sky!" Linne shouted. When they all looked up, they saw the

sun setting at an incredibly swift pace. As if in a rush, it disappeared over

the horizon before the moon chased after it as it rose from the east. This

time though, the moon suddenly stopped, and then it began reversing, the

evening sun doing the same.

"What is going on here?!"

Part of the forest disappeared, revealing a town instead. After that, the

ground beneath their feet turned into cobbled stone, then into a wasteland,

and then into ice. Just as the trees around them seemed to wither, young

trees were sprouting up with fresh foliage.

"Time and space are spinning out of control...?" Quun muttered to

herself as she looked at her surroundings.

Just then, space began to distort even further. The tear in space noisily

widened, and the Slime's rainbow core began sparking before letting off a

blinding light.

"Yakumo! A [Gate]!"

"I'm trying, but it won't open!" Yakumo shouted back.

"[Teleport] won't work either!" Yoshino also informed them.

Quun felt herself become flustered at that knowledge. Teleportation

magic wasn't working? Was it because of the space distortion making it

impossible to pinpoint the coordinates?

As she was running through possible explanations in her head, a

shockwave even larger than before slammed into them, knocking them all

unconscious.

◇◇◇

When everyone awoke, they were surrounded by a pitch-black void of

darkness. And yet, for some reason, they could all see each other clear as

day. Everyone had regained consciousness and was without injury.

They were floating all over the place as if they were in some zerogravity simulator. Well, since they could see no ground or any ceiling, it

was impossible to tell if they could really be said to be floating in the air.

Kuon took a look at their surroundings, regardless of how little he could

see, but he saw no one else other than his siblings and the endless darkness.

For a moment, the worst-case scenario of them having died flitted

through his mind. He lightly gripped his fists and noticed there was

sensation there. He could breathe and feel his own pulse. He was alive,

which meant the dilemma of where they were right now remained.

"Just where is this?"

"This is a dimensional gap. You are in the realm outside the boundary of

your world, completely cut off from other worlds."

When they turned to find the source of the voice, they saw a familiar old

lady looking back at them.

"Granny Tokie!"

"Why yes, it's Granny Tokie here."

The goddess of Space-time gave a gentle smile.

Just as the children had found themselves lost in this pitch-dark space

where they could barely tell their left from their right, Granny Tokie, who

had known them since their birth, appeared in front of them. That alone

granted the children an indescribable sense of relief.

No one in Brunhild could defy her. Both the goddess of swords and the

god of combat were basically children to her, and even Touya, as the grand

duke of Brunhild, was reverent of her. Everyone, including Allis, loved

Tokie, regardless.

"Granny Tokie, what is a dimensional gap?" Quun inquired. "And how

did we end up here?"

"Well, you see, dearies, you were all wrapped up in a timequake."

"A what now?" Quun asked as she tilted her head. She had never heard

that term before.

"It is not a phenomenon that occurs all that frequently on the surface

realm, but, hm, how to explain... Oh, you all are aware of what a trampoline

is, yes?"

"The jumpy thing in the game room? I love that!"

Linne excitedly raised her hand at Tokie's comparison. The game room

in Brunhild Castle was one of the places where kids played most. Linne

greatly enjoyed physical exercise, so she especially loved the trampoline.

"Now imagine you're sitting on that trampoline. What would happen if

someone came along and dove onto the trampoline with you all still on it?"

"Hm? Everyone would get bounced up, wouldn't they?"

"Precisely. That is what has happened to all of you here. You were

sprung out of the time and space of your original world."

Tokie's metaphor helped the children understand their current situation a

little better. Except for maybe Linne, Allis, and Steph.

"When you get wrapped up in a timequake, you are made to float

endlessly through the gap between dimensions. If you're lucky, you'll

manage to make it out into another time period, but there is no guarantee of

that. Oh, don't worry your little heads, though. I will take responsibility

here and send you back to your original timeline."

Kuon had felt chills run up his back at hearing what their potential fate

could have been, but there was unmistakable relief at the thought they

would be able to return home.

"Only there's a slight problem... As you have all fallen into a reverse

flow heading toward the past, you will not be in your own time were you to

leave here now. Under normal circumstances, I would simply transport you

back to your own time from there, but there is an issue with that too at the

moment..."

Tokie placed a hand on her cheek, seeming troubled.

"There is a group of horrible people known as the wicked devout who

may do terrible things in the near future. It would be troublesome if they

were to get up to something nefarious and I wasn't around to assist, so once

we leave this place, I'll need you all to stay in the past for a while. It will be

a time when you all are yet to have been born, when your mothers and

fathers are much younger than they are now."

"The past, you say? If we are to do anything that would change history,

would that not influence our timeline?" Kuon voiced his concern. Quun,

worrying about the same thing, was looking intently at Tokie, awaiting her

answer.

"You needn't worry. Even if the timeline happens to branch, I can return

it to normal with my power. However, the wicked devout may cause a

parallel world to occur should they get involved, and that is what I wish to

avoid, so I'd like for you all to relax for a while in the past until it is time to

return."

"You want us to simply...relax?"

Kuon tilted his head with a conflicted look on his face. Regardless, it

seemed they would have no choice but to travel to the past.

"You will end up appearing in the past timeline weeks apart from each

other, so don't fret if you are unable to contact each other right away. You

will end up scattered around as well, so make sure to head straight for

Brunhild. Do you understand?"

Kuon nodded and replied, "We all have our phones on us, so we should

be able to confirm our locations once we arrive."

Little did he know that many of them would end up losing their phones

on arrival, himself included. That said, Kuon still had his concerns over

whether they would all really head straight to Brunhild in the first place,

especially Steph, Linne, Quun, Yoshino, and Allis. They were heading to a

past era where the world wouldn't be the same as they knew, after all.

Tokie made the kids promise various other things, such as not telling

their parents too much about the future. But honestly, even if someone did

say too much, she could just fix it with her powers as the goddess of Spacetime.

Kuon preferably wanted to avoid giving Tokie too much trouble, though.

Trying to fix various time paradoxes sounded like a huge headache.

"How about we get ourselves out of this oppressive darkness then, hm?

Good luck, everyone!"

When Tokie clapped her hands together, the kids all got dragged away

into the darkness as if hit by a large tsunami.

When the scenery finally shifted away from the darkness, Kuon was met

with a blue sky and a pure white snowfield. And then, the cold air hit his

fair skin.

"Huh? Whoa!"

The place where Kuon had exited was a steep slope covered in snow.

His fall did not lead to a clean landing, his foot catching on the snow as

he began tumbling down. He tried to stop himself, but the slope was at such

an angle that he couldn't even slow down.

"Ow!"

His body ended up bouncing over a bump, causing his tumbling to

accelerate.

After rolling for so long that he was practically encased in snow, he

finally came to a stop as he collided into a tree. Pushing his way out of the

snow that had fallen atop him, he somehow managed to make it out into

fresh air.

"Th-This wasn't quite in the plan... Oh gods, it's cold!"

Kuon unsteadily stood himself up, holding his head. It appeared he had

landed on a very uneven snowy mountain. The weather was fine, but the

cold was too much for him.

"I-In any case, I should head for a town. Let's see... What?"

Huh? Wait. No way.

Kuon patted every part of his clothing that even resembled a pocket, but

his phone was nowhere to be found.

"Don't tell me I dropped it...?"

Kuon looked back up the slope he had tumbled down. He appeared to

have rolled down from fairly high up, trails of his descent weaving left and

right down it. He must have dropped his phone somewhere along the way.

"It would be foolish to carry out a search for it at this moment..."

Kuon hugged his shivering body. He would absolutely freeze to death if

he tried to search for his phone in such thin clothing. And so, he

immediately went for a different option. Rather than search for his phone,

he would be best off heading for a town first, and then trying to find a route

to Brunhild from there. He had no idea where he was at the moment, but he

did have the world map somewhat memorized. If he could at least learn

what country he was in, he would be able to find a solution.

For now, Kuon began making his way to the foot of the mountain.

◇◇◇

"...And that about sums up how we got wrapped up in the timequake."

"Hmm, I see. So you think that the mysterious Slime core that got you

all wrapped up in this is this one here?"

I looked back up at the core inside the obelisk.

Looking at the situation, it didn't seem off the mark to think that it fell

from above. Could the glass-like obelisk actually be what that Slime had

transformed into? From what Kuon had said, any detached parts of the

Slime had turned metallic, so could its body not be similar? In which case,

maybe it was dead.

Whether it caused the timequake and accidentally involved the kids, or it

was unrelated to its occurrence and was also a victim of the timequake, it

had come to the past through that phenomenon just as they had. Regardless,

the way that it appeared similar to the Phrase had me feeling confused.

Those Gemstone Phrase as well. I couldn't think they were completely

unrelated to the Phrase we were used to.

"I'll put it away in [Storage] and we can show it to Melle later."

She was the former Sovereign Phrase, after all. She had to know

something.

"[Prison]."

Just in case, I made sure to encase the obelisk in a [Prison] before then

slotting it away into [Storage].

After that, we just needed to go around breaking all the gemstone

clusters left in the crater. After all, it would be a pain if more Gemstone

Phrase appeared because we left this alone. In fact, a few of them did

actually come to attack us while we were going around breaking them, but

Kuon single-handedly took them all down with his Mystic Eye. He was

taking photos before he did, apparently to show to Steph later.

Oh yeah, he did promise her something like that, didn't he? What a good

big brother.

I made sure to collect the shattered clusters, just in case we would be

able to use them for something later. Plus, Doc Babylon would be able to

analyze them.

After spending a few minutes of our time ensuring we had collected

every last thing we could from the crater, we went on a hunt in the

surrounding area to ensure there were no stragglers left behind. We had no

choice but to do it on foot, since [Search] couldn't pick them up. It was a

real pain in the behind.

We found a couple nearby that we destroyed and gathered, but that

appeared to be the last of them.

Just what were those Gemstone Phrase? They almost seemed like

bodyguards for the rainbow core.

Whatever the case, I would bring all of this back and let Melle and the

others give them a look. Hopefully, we could glean something from them.

◇◇◇

"This is...!"

Unfortunately, when we returned, Allis was still in the middle of lessons

and Ende was carrying out work for the adventurer's guild, but we still

managed to meet with the Dominant Construct girls and show them our

spoils.

We had laid out the obelisk and some of the shattered Gemstone Phrase

pieces in Ende's garden. Melle, Ney, and Lycee were all looking at them

curiously.

"Have you seen them before?"

Melle looked at a deer-like Gemstone Phrase that had managed to retain

much of its original form compared to the others. "I believe...it resembles

the Quos that Yula had been developing."

So these really were those artificial Phrase they had mentioned?

"However, the Phrase that Yula created did not have cores like these."

The cores of the Gemstone Phrase were made up of pentagons joined

together to make a dodecahedron. Melle came to her conclusion upon

examining one cut in two. However, the possibility remained that they

became this shape after further development.

"Do you recognize the rainbow core?"

"No, I've never seen it before. However, as slight as it may be, it appears

to be emitting an echo. It's so weak that I almost can't hear it, though."

The echo was like the heartbeat released by the Phrase, which meant...

that obelisk was a Phrase...

When I asked Melle to confirm my theory, she shook her head.

"I cannot be certain. It is somewhat similar to the echo of a Phrase in a

state of suspended animation."

"Judging from Kuon and Allis's story, could that Slime not have been a

crystal beast? This crystalline pillar looks similar to their corpses," Ney

suggested, looking up at the obelisk.

A crystal beast was what the girls had summoned in Kuon's trial to

become Allis's betrothed. If the Slime they had seen was a crystal beast,

that would mean there was a Dominant Construct who created it.

"They were likely planning something, similar to how Yula summoned

Zeno, but before that plan came to fruition, they perished."

Zeno had been a general that Yula summoned from Phrasia in the final

battle with the wicked god. I hadn't personally met him, but he was

apparently quite the fighter and even Ende had ended up cornered. Melle

had been the one to take him down.

Yula had been the very cautious type. It was likely he had come up with

all kinds of backup plans. Though at the end of the day, the moment he

mistook the wicked god for an actual god, most of the plans he had come up

with were rendered useless. In other words, these were Yula's legacy. And

not particularly a legacy to be thankful for, of course.

"If this is a crystal beast, does that mean the rainbow core inside it is

something else entirely?" Kuon asked.

"Most likely. The crystal beast seems more like an armor designed to

protect itself. Though the armor's dead now, so it's not really doing much to

help it anymore," Ney replied, lightly knocking on the crystal obelisk.

I guess it died because of the timequake or the shock of its fall. I was

starting to feel more and more like this had nothing to do with the

timequake occurring. It was all simply a coincidence—one that Kuon and

the other kids all got wrapped up in as well.

"Oh."

My phone started ringing: it was from Doc Babylon. Had she finished

analyzing the Gemstone Phrase? She worked as fast as ever.

"Hello?"

"Results of the analysis are in. As it turns out, it does, in fact, have the

same characteristics of a Phrase that allow it to amplify, accumulate, and

release mana, but not as powerfully as the real thing. Calling it an imitation

is not incorrect. But interestingly enough, their properties and makeup are

not so far from actual gemstones. The red and green ones are almost

identical to rubies and emeralds, respectively. I imagine they grew by

absorbing minerals from underground. When they stop living, they

essentially become a gemstone of degraded phrasium."

What? Hold on a sec, did that mean they weren't so different from real

gemstones? I assumed it was similar to the difference between a natural

diamond and an artificial one, but that still meant they could possibly sell

for a hell of a lot!

But then again, they were fake...

No, no, I once heard on TV that cubic zirconia, an artificial diamond,

was worth only ten percent of a real diamond, but the rate of light

dispersion was higher, making it shine more beautifully than a real

diamond. The difference in value came about from their rarity, not from

which was more appealing to the eye.

I imagine barely anyone in this world could determine whether or not

these were fakes. Maybe if they were able to use [Analyze], but that would

be about it.

...Should I sell them?

We'd already blown a good chunk of our funds on developing the Val

Albus and the Nereids. They practically looked alike to the real thing, so it

would be fine, surely. Cut it properly and it would make for quite a big

gemstone. There was no way the nobles would be able to keep their mitts

off them.

The devil in my mind was shouting, "Just sell it! This is your chance to

make the big bucks!", while the angel was shouting back, "No, you

mustn't! Those are fakes!"

The angel and devil began throwing punches at each other.

C'mon, Devil, right there! Yeah, go for the straight!

"Father? Is something the matter?"

Kuon spoke up and ripped me out of my thoughts.

"Huh?! U-Uh, no, what makes you say that?!"

A-Anyway, I don't need to think too much about this for now.

"What should we do about the rainbow core?"

"Couldn't tell you, honestly. This is a Dominant Construct in

hibernation, right? Doesn't that make it dangerous?"

"Yes, they may be threat, but it is also untrue to say that all Dominant

Constructs are—"

Just as Melle went to respond to me, the obelisk suddenly cracked. The

rainbow core dropped out from the obelisk and tumbled along the ground,

instantly absorbed the mana from the surroundings, and began growing.

We had seen this once before! It was exactly what happened when I used

[Apport] to remove Melle's core from inside Prince Yamato's body as she

had been hibernating.

"[Prison]!"

Without hesitation, I encased the core.

[Prison] may be able to create sturdy barriers, but it was unable to stop

time like [Storage]. Now that the Construct's core had begun to awaken, it

was considered a living organism, so I couldn't use any storage magic on it.

The body, which was as rainbow-colored as the core it was growing from,

only continued to grow bigger and bigger until it started to take the form of

a human. So it was a Dominant Construct!

When it reached a certain size, it stopped and began to thin instead.

It seemed...smaller than I had been expecting. Was it even smaller than

Kuon? Their body was partially covered in armor, and their hair was a

slightly long bluish-white bob cut. I wasn't sure if they were a boy or a girl.

"What is going on here? Is this...not a Dominant Construct?" Ney said,

frowning at the crystalline structure as it morphed into a human.

"The Phrase do not go through an adolescent period. They are

immediately born as adults," Melle muttered. "The only exception is Allis

as she is a child between Ende and I. We cannot think of this as a regular

Phrase."

The pale-haired child Phrase's eyes finally slowly opened. They were

the same icy blue as Melle and Allis's.

Suddenly, the child dashed straight at us, slamming right into the wall of

the [Prison] and being sent tumbling backward.

Oof, that had to have hurt.

The child stood back up holding their head, then encased their fist in a

crystalline armor that they proceeded to punch ferociously into the barrier.

Of course, a [Prison] couldn't break that easily, but the child inside never

stopped, continuing their assault as if they had gone insane.

Holy shit, this kid's small, but they sure are violent.

It looked like they were shouting something, most likely yelling to be let

out. We couldn't hear because of the effect of the [Prison], though.

"Father, could you disable the sound prevention of the [Prison]? I would

like to hear what they're trying to say."

"Hm? Well, sure, I don't mind."

I did as Kuon asked.

" /ee※ ♯ ♭ne ◇ ⊇ ≒ desh?≒∂ ▽ ♭?u

▽♭?w♭∂ ∂ ☆◇h?∇ ◇ de▽▲ ◇ru ∞

e?∇∂ ☆◇?u◇ "

I was expecting to hear a barrage of profanities, but instead, all I heard

was a string of incomprehensible words.

Oh, right, I can't speak their language.

Before I could decide whether or not to apply translation magic, Melle

grabbed my shoulders and began shaking me.

"Touya! Please dispel this barrier!"

"What? But..."

"It'll be fine! Please hurry!"

You sure...? They're kinda going on a bit of a rampage in there.

Well, I could just encase them in another [Prison] if they didn't cool

down, so there was nothing to really worry about. Plus, it seemed the

Phrase girls could understand what they were saying.

I did as Melle asked, dispelling the whole [Prison] this time, and the

bob-cut kid swung into the air, falling over. But they then immediately

stood back up and ran straight to Melle, tears streaming down their face as

they dove into her arms.

" /ee※ ♯ "

"Halle? Is that really you?"

Melle had a look of surprise on her face, as if she couldn't believe what

she was seeing, as she gently ran her hands down the child gripping onto

her. Ney and Lycee looked similarly shocked.

"What, Lord Halle? But..."

"The echo is truly the same... Is that really you, Lord Halle?"

"Lord Halle?" I asked.

"Lord Halle is...Lady Melle's younger brother...and the current

Sovereign Phrase."

"You're kidding?!"

I could only look on in shock at the boy clinging to Melle.