The Prince Who Became a Frog
Dragged away by the second Ostinato custodians, Ian Kaliuga trudged unsteadily back to his room.
She was going to die.
He could have saved her if she'd chosen marriage to him, but she'd stubbornly chosen death instead.
"...Ha. Well, I guess marrying a pet frog would be worse than death."
Maybe he had loved her without even understanding the subject.
While Ian lay there in a daze, time slipped by until the next day arrived.
The day the war criminals would be executed.
Ian rose from his bed.
Even if he was just a rejected pet frog, he couldn't let her die.
"Execute."
Count Kaliuga swung his hand.
Crunch!
Another head was severed by the golem's axe blade.
A fountain of blood sprayed from the severed neck.
"Next."
The headless corpse was cleared away, and the neck of the woman who had once been a saint was placed on the execution block.
"Prepare."
The golem's axe blade rose.
Just as Count Kaliuga raised his hand,
"...Stop."
Ian appeared, his hair disheveled from running frantically.
"Ian Kaliuga. What do you think you're doing?"
Count Kaliuga's pale face twisted in a scowl.
"Looks like I can't keep my promise after all."
Mana sparkled in Ian's hand.
Whirr...
At that moment, all the golems reacted to his mana.
"The golems I built with my own tech? I'm taking them back."
"...Treason, you foolish son?"
"Treason? I'm just reclaiming what's mine."
The golems knelt around Ian in submission.
But even seeing that, Count Kaliuga laughed.
"You're soft, my son."
Whirr...
Mana sparkled in Count Kaliuga's hand as well.
"A genius in magitech, but you've never once dealt with command overrides or control struggles like this."
Snap!
The count snapped his fingers, and the golems rose again, obeying his command.
"You think I didn't prepare for something like this?!"
"...Tch!"
Ian clicked his tongue and thrust both hands forward.
Mana swirled around his hands.
I have to win.
Even if it kills me, I can't let her die here.
The covert battle for control of the golems between the two Kaliugas was fierce.
"...Impossible. This adaptation speed!"
The count's face hardened.
Losing his composure, he shouted,
"Guards! Anyone! Cut this brat's head off!"
But the count's desperate order was too slow.
Bam!
A golem's fist came down faster, smashing into him.
The count lay crushed and bloodied on the ground, twitching.
"Kate!"
Ian unlocked the iron chains binding Kate's hands.
While Ian was distracted with Kate, the count issued his final command, laced with malice.
The last order from the dying count spread to all the golems.
—EXTERMINATE—
—ALL LIFE FORMS—
Having fully freed Kate, Ian moved to embrace her.
Boom!
A golem's strike came crashing down on them.
Thanks to Kate rolling away while holding Ian, they survived unscathed.
"What the hell...!"
Ian hurriedly channeled mana to stop the golems, but he couldn't.
Count Kaliuga had poured all his remaining mana and life force into making them go berserk as his final act.
Already overloaded from the control struggle between the two Kaliugas, the golems' circuits burned out from the excessive command, and they began rampaging.
"Watch out, Ian!"
Kaboom!
Kate swung a fist wrapped in holy power aura, shattering one golem.
"Th-thanks, Kate..."
Kate, still holding Ian, scanned their surroundings.
"Kyaaah!" "Save me! I don't want to die!" "The golems have gone mad!"
The crowds gathered to watch the executions were being massacred by the golems.
With the golems' circuits completely fried, control over every one here was impossible.
There was nothing he could do now without bringing in new golems.
"L-let's run, Kate! I'll get new golems! Head somewhere safe first...!"
Kate looked into Ian's eyes with a sorrowful expression.
"I'm sorry, Ian."
"No. Don't, Kate. You don't even have weapons or gear right now."
"But I'm a saint. Cartezia, the saint who protects people and guides them on the righteous path."
Kate set Ian down and leaped forward.
"No, Kate!"
She began smashing golems and rescuing people.
But with all the knights having fled, there were limits to what an unarmed saint could do alone.
Ian ran.
There had to be emergency golems in the mansion basement.
He had to fetch them quickly and save Kate.
Running faster than he ever had in his life, he awakened the golem army slumbering in the mansion and rushed back.
What he found was her body, horrifically sprawled on the ground.
Her left arm was nowhere to be seen, and her right arm was twisted at an angle too grotesque to look at.
Organs spilling from a massive hole in her abdomen were torn and mangled beyond recognition as human.
"Kate!"
Ian scooped up the girl.
"No, Kate! Open your eyes! Please! Priests! Where are the priests?!"
The boy sobbed, but the execution grounds, littered with golem wreckage, were empty.
"Ian..."
"Kate! Kate!"
"I want to hear... Ian's music..."
Soon, the flame of life faded from the girl's eyes.
Aaaarrrgh!
Raindrops fell onto the sobbing boy.
Having brutally slain the other officials and ascended as the Magic King, Ian held a grand funeral for Kate and sorted her belongings.
Despite being the kingdom's greatest saint, her luggage was pathetically meager.
Rustle.
The boy found a diary, a small picture book, and a recording magitech device inside.
The picture book was worn and frayed from countless readings.
The Prince Who Became a Frog
Ian's eyes widened at the title.
With a mix of doubt and hope, the boy played the recording on the magitech device.
Ding-a-ling~
A familiar melody flowed out.
The basic ostinato tune he had always played for the girl.
Ian snatched up the diary in a panic.
Flipping it open, the boy broke into sobs.
He wasn't a pet frog.
He was the prince who became a frog. She hadn't become a saint because she hated him and his family. She had been forced into the role she never wanted, all to change the public's perception of him from within the church.
She hadn't rejected marriage to him.
Before he arrived, Count Kaliuga had threatened her, so she'd desperately refused him to save his life.
She didn't hate the boy.
From the day they first met, she'd fallen for him just as he had for her.
The vision ended with Ian screaming and sobbing madly.
Ian, now in the Magic Kingdom, installed a massive magic circle.
He conducted endless experiments to find a way to revive the girl.
He refined all the kingdom's jewels into materials.
He sacrificed hundreds of innocents as offerings.
No matter what he tried, turning back time was impossible.
But he didn't give up.
Even if it meant destroying the world, he would revive her.
Eventually, upon reaching transcendence, he uncovered the world's secrets.
The existence of the Akashic Archive, which oversaw the stories of the entire universe.
Its omnipotence to store and intervene in all history as stories.
"I get your situation, but no."
The Archive's custodian blocked him.
"Altering history would shatter the world's balance. As custodian of the Akashic Archive, I absolutely cannot allow it."
Ian lunged at the custodian but was no match for their power.
"If the Archive's way won't work, I'll borrow the Abyss's power."
"You'll regret it."
"...Regret? I've had plenty already. Too much to have any left."
The custodian could only watch sadly as Ian departed.
Ian confronted the Abyss.
"I'll give you everything I have."
The Abyss's power flowed into him.
"Return her to me."
Corrupted and blackened by the Abyss, he became its apostle, the Star of Destruction, Orpheus.
He felt the Abyss mocking him, but he turned away.
As long as he could save her, he could do anything.