Chapter 334: Trapped Souls

———Wiina———

<9: 33 am>

She inspected the murky crystal in her hand, barely bigger than her palm yet holds the power that was forbidden in many eras. It’s crackling with dark energy that invites dread to anyone that would stare at it for too long, and yet she remains composed as she inspects the stone.

I shift my form to the default before landing right beside her. No need to continue observing as a weird-looking bird now that the ‘fight’ is over and done with.

“So, what are you going to do with that?” I said while looking at the ominous stone in her palm. Transparent shell with a swelling of dark colors contained inside it. “Certainly crystalized well, it can be used to bypass so many limitations. What’s your plan?”

“For now, nothing.” She said before putting it away. She can already store items like that? “For how many people that was, the quality wasn’t exactly ideal.”

“You could easily bleach the surface of an entire state just from throwing it wrong…” I pointed out, it’s certainly not an item meant to be dismissed as ‘low grade’. “Whatever, as long as you don't try anything that could be a problem for me, it’ll be fine… You know what I mean, right?”

“No need for elaboration.” She said before turning away.

The barrier on both ends have disappeared now that the annoyance has been dealt with. All soldiers, all vehicles, all destroyed.

“...So, is there any more nuisance coming our way?” She asked while still looking away from me.

“Nothing you need to concern yourself with. As it stands, there is nothing else coming to reinforce this graveyard.” I answered. “...Maybe don’t make any big movements like that for a while.”

“I know my limits.” She dismissively replied. Hopefully she doesn’t earn the wrong kind of eyes, but with how she has been moving perhaps… No, I shouldn’t assume while lacking crucial information. Someone like me making a mistake is significantly more embarrassing than when others slipped up. “By the way, did you get that thing I asked for?”

“Oh, of course.” I said while looking at the drones that are cloaked but not observing us at the moment, slowly flying away from the scene. I then took out the requested item, the tome thick with text and decorated with red gems on its cover.

“Thanks.” She said before yanking it out of my hand.

“How did you even lose that?” I asked, since it’s rare for her to make a mistake, especially letting an item like that slip her grasp.

“A bit of a temporal incident. A few elements outside my control.” She said without actually explaining anything, just paraphrasing what she has explained to me before and expecting me to work with that to actually get the tome back, which is typical of her at this point. There’s so much hijinks she is involved with that trying to explain it to someone would’ve taken ages. Even a document summarizing everything will take a while to read.

“...By the way, you can donate the tome after you’re done with it, right? It shouldn’t take too long for you to read through it.” I said, out of my own initiative. The others don’t know about this yet.

“Sure.” She replied. A genuine artifact that can help practice magic that isn’t one of those consumable spellbooks is a rare sight even when the world of magic was at its most robust. Someone like her wouldn’t take too long to decipher it and its content, but for everyone else it will be much more of a slog. I already read through it and replicate every spell inscribed in the artifact, but obviously the text alone is not what makes it special.

“...Say, when did you even learn such forbidden magic? I know for a fact that the school’s library lacks content of such nature.” Even with the records on most of Earth’s history and mechanics behind our world, there are no books that encourage and give instructions on this type of spell. While almost every big shot of the school knows how to use it already and could impart knowledge down into books, they don’t even risk giving anyone any ideas let alone planning on creating magic artifacts to bolster comprehension of that category of spells.

“Trial and error.” She answered before walking away. Her patience is running thin, it seems. That wasn’t really a satisfactory struggle she was looking for, but she probably knew that coming in.

…As for cleaning up, that’s something I’ll let the others take care of. Unfortunately for anyone who has a relative among these soldiers, there isn’t even so much as an intact corpse for them to take home for a proper funeral.

At least they won’t realize that even their souls can’t be ferried to the afterlife.

———Karra———

<9: 38 am>

“...Yeesh.” I muttered after a long period of silence. The screen had gone dark and nothing else was shown, but we were left a bit bewildered by how quickly it ended. “That was like… what, twenty minutes?”

“Fifteen minutes, I believe.” Orrel said with a complicated look. That’s insanely short with how many people were in that battle.

“Scary.” Seni muttered quietly. Rare for her to make that kind of remark… and a bit hypocritical. I know she never did anything on this scale, none of us did, but we aren’t exactly opposed to the idea of killing a bunch of people. We usually don’t, but we can be merciless when we want to be as well, probably have more willingness than most in the school when it comes to that.

“Alright, I think that’s enough.” She waltzes into the room and breaks the silence. She still wears the black suit she usually wore, but the baggy white coat akin to something a mad scientist wears is absent. “Sully, make sure their needs are attended to. I believe many of you haven't even eaten breakfast yet. They can stay here until the sun is down.”

If it weren’t for the fact that we are a thick-skinned bunch that would’ve been a very insensitive thing to say. Maybe that’s why she even had the audacity to say it in the first place after watching that. This must’ve been what watching a gladiator match must’ve been like, if it was eight thousand times more extreme, just watching a slaughter happen in the comfort of our own seat and casually getting a meal on the way.

“Of course, Mistress.” Sully said with a bow before Useph’s mother turned around to leave.

“...Hey, Sully, why did she even show us that?” Useph asked the moment he was certain she wouldn’t have overheard the conversation.

“From her explanation, it’s simply a broadcast meant to show that the danger will quickly pass.” She explained. No freaking way it’s just that, right? I don’t think any of us were doubting the town’s security.

“...Okay, whatever. Just go get a cart with all the cereal we got, and the milk and juice.” He is clearly annoyed by the answer but chose to prioritize getting some breakfast first. I’m pretty sure all of us besides him haven’t eaten a meal because this place will cover it.

“Oh, give me a dozen soft-boiled eggs with salt and pepper.” Kenni meanwhile wants something more specific.

“Chewy cookies.” Seni ordered.

“I want pizza, get me something hot.” Gregori ordered. Looks like she has to burden herself with writing all of that down. There are more orders coming.

———Lerim———

<9: 58 am>

“They’re retreating already?” Evari said in confusion as she put her lance down. She was pumping herself up to actually try to make them leave with how restless the neighborhood had been and that ultimately doesn’t matter.

“Like I said, it’ll solve itself.” It seems that things have settled on Karra and Idea’s side. That should be a large chunk of the troops being deployed completely wiped. “Alright then, things will go back to normal soon. What are you going to do now?”

“Uhh… I don’t freaking know. I was expecting to tire myself out.” She said, sounding completely awkward. “I guess we’re… I don’t know.”

“Let’s go to the guild and get some nice air conditioning before trying to think too hard and overheating.” I said before beckoning her to follow.

“Winter isn’t even over yet.” She grumbled despite obediently following me anyway.

We quickly made our way into the guild and found an empty table to sit at. There aren't a lot of people right now, perhaps still locked up in their home afraid of soldiers coming knocking down on this place specifically. This would probably be one of the first places they seize if they did break in, but the barrier around this place means that was never going to happen. They lack the ability to even make a dent in it.

“A pretty sad looking place right now.” She commented on the amount of absence at the moment.

“They’ll come knocking the moment they realize they truly have nothing to fear. I’m pretty sure the leader is still burying himself in paperwork right now. Want me to go check?” I don’t have anything better to do either so might as well bother him a bit.

“No need to bother a guy like that, right?” She said while scratching the back of her head before eyeing the staff who seemed a bit nervous. He must’ve convinced them quite well for them to still come here and maintain the place. “Hey! Stop worrying! They already left and the barrier is still on!”

“I don’t think they’re going to believe you.” I pointed out. Maybe if it was him they would’ve listened, but even then they clearly still don’t think this town is truly safe with them fidgeting and shaking. I then place a lunchbox on the table. “Have you eaten yet?”

“...I haven’t.” She said before aiming to take the lunchbox I am clearly offering.

“Hmph, and you seriously think about taking on almost five hundred troops.” I mocked her before sliding the box her way.

“Hey! How am I supposed to eat when I feel stressed out! You can’t enjoy a good meal like that!” She protested before opening the box and began eating while the others looked at the mundane scene with confusion, and the tension eased a little.

Let me check if there is any news online about this. If the soldiers here are retreating that must mean they are doing so elsewhere as well.

…Looks like nothing has been updated yet, at least from the more mainstream source. The recall is probably not obvious for those who aren’t daring enough to not look. Let me see here, there should be some online group full of crazy people that are willing to check.

Here it is, they sound corny as always, but they do come with actual video footage for me to verify their claim. They love moving around their camera wildly to get the look of the surroundings just to make it clear this isn’t fake, certainly makes them look even more unhinged than their groups already are.

I should also ask Idea about this. If things are truly done on their end then they should be able to reply to me. I simply typed in the private chat to ask them if they’re done with what they’re doing.

‘Yep.’ A quick reply came only a few seconds later. Guess that settles that.

‘Yo what happened to the massive army near our town? They just combust???’ Karra meanwhile posted something that… might actually be true. With how they are retreating, something disastrous must’ve happened there.

That should account for at least thirteen hundred soldiers, right? Somewhere in that ballpark. The military obviously still has a lot more troops than that, even with the majority of them either resigned or killed in the chaos of the first few weeks, but there is no doubt that losing so much while gaining nothing scares them straight. If they lose the other squads that were thinned out to operate all around the country then the numbers will quickly pile up to look even worse.

It doesn't help that they piss someone off that could spitefully sabotage their efforts by influencing literally everything inside the country in a way that even they can’t do, but that’s beyond the scope of what I could try to piece together. Better to just ask someone who knows more about the entire story than assuming further.

Really, who could even predict that it would end up in such a stomp not even worth thinking over? Probably only those who were in the know since before the Eclipse, but enough pondering about them. I should also relax and maybe doomscroll or something.