Temporary Secret Experiment

Magic power surged toward the lamb like a tide, making Rorschach feel as though he were facing a gale head-on. He decided to step forward, but Unuk stopped him.

"The situation is getting out of control. There's something wrong with the dancers up front and the people carrying the ointment. Someone has their eye on me."

Unuk frowned. He swept back his loose long hair and glanced around; sure enough, several gazes immediately darted away. "Find a way to get your companions down first. Don't make too much of a scene and cause a disturbance. I'll contact the garrison and stay alert for these madmen attacking us."

Rorschach squeezed his way to the front and gave the pale-faced Tasia a look. Tasia immediately understood and nodded.

Rorschach then cast with the smallest possible gesture, firing a Decomposition Technique at one of the stage's support beams. Part of the stage immediately collapsed. Just as Rorschach had calculated, Tasia happened to be in the collapsing section and promptly rolled down along the slanted planks. Rorschach used Mage Hand to catch her before she could keep rolling, then pushed her toward himself.

The surging magic power in the square made Mage Hand harder for Rorschach to control. He seemed to have used a little too much force, sending Tasia straight into his arms. Through gritted teeth, Tasia whispered, "How did you even come up with making me roll down?"

Rorschach grabbed Tasia's hand. "You can thank me later. Let's meet up with Mr. Arle and Singlev."

"Was I thanking you?" Recalling her ordeal and the surging magic power, Tasia warned, "I sensed an aura similar to when the Holy Mother Cult performs its rituals."

Rorschach nodded. "Got it. Keep up."

The other dancers seemed utterly unaware that the stage had collapsed and one of them was missing. The revelers continued moving toward the enormous lamb, and more and more people stepped onto the stage ruins.

Mr. Arle was experienced and well-traveled. Sensing something strange about the crowd, he quickly covered his mouth and nose with a handkerchief. Singlev's dwarven resistance to poison seemed to have come into play again; he alone was completely unaffected by the resonating magical winds and smoke. Arle and Singlev struggled through the crowd to reach Rorschach and Tasia. Rorschach nodded to Mage Unuk, who had been watching them all along. Unuk immediately pulled out a scroll. Once activated, it sent a flash soaring into the sky, where it burst into a red ball of light.

Wasn't that just fireworks? Rorschach had thought the town's resident mage might use a scroll to freeze everyone in the square or something. Instead, he had just set off a magical skyrocket. The uninformed revelers took the glowing burst for part of the show, and some even cheered.

"Lord Unuk, the resident mage of Andorilla.

"My companions: merchant traveler Mr. Arle, warrior Singlev, and apprentice Tasia."

"Let's go. Move toward the edge of the square."

As Unuk cleared a path, he explained to the others, "It seems a large-scale ritual is underway. We'd better leave before whatever god is behind it answers. That Radiance spell just now was a warning signal to the Imperial garrison. Red is the highest alert level I'm authorized to issue. The Imperial Army and Army Mages will both intervene."

Yet when they reached the edge of the square, every entrance was filled only with people pouring in. Even when someone fell, the others simply trampled over them. Every one of them wore an eager, joyful smile. They had clearly entered a delirious state where they could no longer feel pain.

When they looked back, a vat of ointment was poured directly over the enormous lamb and the dancers at its center. A two-meter torch toppled over and ignited the ointment, setting off a wave of cheers. The dancers continued to dance merrily amid the roaring flames, their moving figures rapidly shrinking in the firelight.

"Aren't you a magic apprentice? It's obviously wrong—why are you frozen there?"

"I have an affinity for Nature School spells, but that also means I'm affected most deeply in an environment like a Holy Mother Cult ritual! For a moment, I could feel a Great Will turning its gaze upon the lamb, and also upon—"

Before Tasia could finish, another surge of cheers drowned her out. The firelight illuminated her face, making it look terrifyingly pale.

"Damn it, the ritual has begun!"

Andorilla's central fortress stood atop the highest hill, but the inside of that hill had now been hollowed out. A steel High Tower rose from the heart of the fortress, beneath it a maze of pipes and an enormous metal sphere. The base supporting the sphere was made up of rotors and steam engines driving those rotors.

Many workers were busy within the enormous cavity. They wore coarse burlap robes that covered them from head to toe, threaded with extremely fine, soft copper wires.

The only people without protective gear were the two men in the middle. The older one stood with his hands behind his back, monitoring everyone in the facility, while the younger man held a thick stack of documents and constantly flipped through them.

"How is the equipment calibration going?" The man with his hands behind his back had a meticulously trimmed handlebar mustache. When he spoke, his voice was low and grave, and even his mustache did not move.

"The frequencies of the twelve units still can't be brought into complete alignment, but short-term activation won't be a problem."

"Do we have enough fuel?"

"A shipment of refined coal arrived from the Black Forest mining district the day before yesterday."

"Then load it up. Prepare to start it again and collect more data."

"Sir, shouldn't we carry out some maintenance first? After all, these units were secretly purchased from Valois. If they break, we can't exactly invite their craftsmen here."

The handlebar-mustached man grew somewhat angry at those words and rudely cut off his subordinate. "I won't concern myself with that! You people solve it!"

The gears began to creak. An elevator lowered a messenger, who quickly saluted the handlebar-mustached man. "Reporting, sir! Abnormal magical fluctuations have been detected in Andorilla's urban district. A warning signal has been monitored at the city square!"

"A warning? From the resident mage?"

"Yes! These are signals collected from seven stations within the city. There are large-scale magical fluctuations."

The handlebar-mustached man took the report. "It's the Harvest Festival. Is this Mars? Or Ceres?" He first fell into solemn thought, then a moment later revealed an excited smile. "Good! Good! Good!"

After saying "good" three times, the man walked over to the enormous metal sphere. "Who cares what god is causing trouble? This is the perfect chance for an experiment! Hurry! Hurry! Prepare to activate the experiment!"

The man did not forget to turn and instruct the messenger, "Report this: an Underground Cult is suspected of conducting a large illegal ritual without authorization near our military garrison. The ritual's center is at the city square. Deploy special defense forces to suppress it. Our department will conduct Experiment 302 to assist in terminating the illegal ritual."

"Yes, sir!" The messenger scribbled shorthand at lightning speed in his notebook.

The three men then left the site one after another. The massive, complex system activated, steam vented from the fortress, and explosive roars echoed through the underground space. The enormous metal sphere began rotating slowly. Electric light flickered over its surface, outlining patterns formed from geometric shapes.

The metal sphere spun faster and faster, continuously accelerating amid the unnerving whine of electricity. The patterns formed by the electrical light could no longer be seen; instead, the entire sphere began to glow.

Had Rorschach been there, he would have been utterly shocked—this profoundly unmagical space was generating electricity at a furious rate, while the device centered on the metal sphere continuously spewed forth magic power.

"Energy storage complete. Entering activation state. Mode: low-wave noise."

Magical energy shot into the sky. Having gathered sufficient energy density and flux, it became visible, a pillar of light rising from the fortress, tearing through the ominous night and thrusting straight into the heavens.

"Hahaha! No matter how many times I see it, this old man still finds it magnificent!" In the secure control room, the handlebar-mustached man could not stop laughing.

"This is the crystallization of the Empire's highest wisdom, and also your great achievement, Teacher."

"What does one man like me amount to in the Empire? It is the Empire's magical technology that stands first under heaven!"