Chapter 88
Chapter 88
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Great Magic: Celestia (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Phantasmal Archive Celestia.
Within the endlessly sprawling library, I wandered alone through Celestia's corridors.
Step, step—.
In the heart of the deserted Third Archive, the sound of my footsteps echoed.
Even now, my mind clearly retained the conversation I'd had long ago with that nameless girl.
—'No matter how many times you return here, you're still trying to recreate the same magic again.'
The clear voice clung to my ears, leaving its lingering echo.
This unforgettable voice, even after time passed, kept pinning me to the spot.
—"I've returned here time and again—."
It was a story I couldn't comprehend.
After all, since entering this library, I'd never once doubted my own memories.
It had been centuries since I first opened my eyes in Celestia.
Throughout that endless time, my memories had always been preserved through magic.
The 'Memory Imprint' spell I'd developed in the early days after entering the library.
It was a magic that reinforced my sense of self, ensuring I wouldn't forget my existence amid the infinite flow of time.
—"Is there some kind of in the memories imprinted in my mind?"
Leaning against a bookshelf, I slowly reviewed all my memories up to now.
In the Phantasmal Archive, I did not dream.
The only moments I could fall into dreams were the fleeting instants when I attempted to escape this library.
Otherwise, I was always trapped here, reading books.
It was hard to believe anything had happened to my memories during those brief times I went out and returned.
Thus, there was no reason to doubt the continuity of my own existence.
"......"
Did that mean the pure white girl I'd encountered was lying to deceive me—?
That seemed unlikely.
There was no reason for her to tell such a lie, even setting aside any sense of familiarity or mutual trust.
In the end, this boiled down to a binary choice.
Would I believe myself?
Or would I believe the girl's words?
With that choice before me, I gazed at a single book wedged into the shelf.
—"Tyrant Dragon—."
The grimoire 'Tyrant Dragon,' stored in Celestia's Third Archive.
This magic, created at Peria Alperatz's request, now had all its pages corrupted and unreadable.
The spell's performance and core mechanisms had completely transformed from their original design.
Swoosh—.
I pulled the grimoire from the shelf.
Flipping open its cover, I began slowly examining its contents.
—"Still... not a single page is readable."
Rustle, rustle—.
As the pages turned, the contents beyond came into view.
Countless undecipherable characters lined up.
The mystery, reorganized into near-perfect form, had evolved into an even more refined magic.
However, interpreting the incantations written there was impossible for me.
Even with the 'Translation Magic' spanning all of Celestia.
—"Are these incantations simply untranslatable, or is it something I shouldn't translate?"
A small miracle I'd once created was advancing toward a perfection I couldn't reach—.
In the past, I'd called this change a degradation.
Magical degradation.
I'd judged that magic escaping my control was turning into something uncontrollable.
But now, that thinking had completely reversed.
It was because of what the pure white girl in my dream had told me.
—"She said the lost magics are returning to the library."
The hazy conversation from the dream surged to the surface all at once.
Even in the fragmented, disjointed dialogue, there was something I couldn't ignore.
She had told me the magics were returning.
If this wasn't magical 'degradation'—.
If some 'magic' from a memory even I didn't know had been created, and it possessed the property of returning to Celestia on its own—.
And if I originally knew the contents of these unreadable incantations—what then—?
—"In the end, this entire process is closer to approaching the essence of that magic."
If so, the story flipped completely.
The changes in the grimoire were no coincidence.
These changes had been inevitably foretold for the library from the beginning.
As I recalled that conversation, my gaze lifted to the library's sky.
"......"
The sky of the vast library, its location unknown.
Moonlight streaming from the ceiling of the Phantasmal Archive scattered halos across the serene library.
The shattered moonlight reflected everywhere.
Plop—.
Beneath it, I closed the grimoire's cover with a bitter smile on my lips.
—"......Great magic. Have I not even reached the starting point yet?"
A voice discussing some great magic echoed in my mind.
—The magic that would end the eternal fates.
The ultimate path of sorcery to fell great existences.
That alone was great magic to her.
Thus, the current library was insufficient.
With the magics in Celestia's Fourth Archive, we couldn't reach the realm of great magic she envisioned.
Hah—.
A sticky emotion vividly revived in my chest.
The magics I'd poured everything into creating weren't even worthy of being called masterpieces to her.
—"Magic to kill a god—."
It was the first emotion I'd felt since entering Celestia.
When I first encountered that game long ago, had the emotion pulsing in my chest been like this?
An intense impulse rose its head.
It faced the thick wall blocking my path.
My desire to leave this place hadn't changed.
But after hearing that not even a fragment of greatness could be seen in the Phantasmal Archive's magic, I had no intention of quietly glossing over my own ignorance.
I knew who I was comparing myself to.
So, the thought that it was unattainable never crossed my mind.
—"She said the outside existences won't stay quietly watching any longer."
I was a mage.
Inscribing magic was my essence.
If a magic was necessary anyway, there was no reason not to create it.
If a god blocked my path, shooting it down would be my role.
I needed magic.
The greatest magic in the world.
I had to create with my own hands a magic so great and perfect that no one could dispute it as the pinnacle.
—"Then, I'll drag it all down to rock bottom with my own hands."
The auxiliary magic of the Third Archive, Tyrant Dragon.
I raised the grimoire in my hand.
I knew her intentions.
She must have told me with that in mind from the start.
Even so, I resolved this with my own will.
—"I need to create the Fifth Archive—."
Make all these unreadable incantations my own.
That alone would be the first step to shattering the wall before me.
* * * * * *
Priella Atria, the lowest seat in the Eight Swords Society.
The pure white girl drifting through the library had no hobby like reading.
After all, she was born a swordswoman.
From childhood, only the path of the sword had brought color to her gray world.
Thus, Priella had kept her distance from reading.
Of course, the fact that books were extremely expensive played a big role too.
"Hmm... What should I read today?"
But even Priella knew the greatest benefit given to the Secret Society's members.
The countless grimoires stocked in the Phantasmal Archive Celestia.
Being able to peruse them was the biggest perk of all.
If you'd received a benefit, you had to make use of it somehow.
Thus, Priella tried every day to pull out and read a book.
Unfortunately, she didn't understand a single bit of the content.
—Caw, caw—!
"Why read it if you don't get it? Shut up."
—Kreeeak—!
And so, today too, as she yanked the crow spirit's feathers and crossed the library.
Hmm—.
Suddenly, Priella's gaze caught something and halted in place.
Not far from the bookshelf where Priella stood.
There sat a familiar-faced researcher, wearing a monocle.
"Kekekek—."
A chilling laugh poured from the Doctor's mouth, as always.
Yet, his lips clearly bore an expression of pure delight.
What on earth was he looking at to be so amused?
Priella tilted her head in thought for a moment.
Tap, tap—.
Soon, she deliberately made her presence known and approached the Doctor.
—"......Hey, what are you doing?"
After reaching behind the Doctor and tapping his shoulder as he stared at something.
Ahem, ahem—.
The Doctor cleared his throat once and turned to look at Priella.
"Oh dear, we have two guests today."
"Two?"
Priella's eyes shifted to the crow spirit perched on her shoulder.
It seemed the Doctor was counting the crow spirit as one too.
Hearing the Doctor, the crow proudly lifted its head in satisfaction.
Whoosh, swish—.
With the crow arrogantly turning its head, the Doctor pointed to the translucent screen floating in the air.
"If I explain what I'm doing... His Great One temporarily descended to the surface and personally demolished the Mobile Citadel, didn't He?"
"Yeah. I heard."
"While watching those discussing His splendor, I've been pondering how to spend the contribution points I earned this time."
Kekekek—.
Behind the grinning Doctor, images of nobles conversing played out.
The large-scale surveillance magic established by the Librarian, Johan.
He was eavesdropping on nobles' conversations as a hobby, it seemed.
No matter how you looked at it, it was a thoroughly rotten pastime.
"You find that fun, Doctor?"
"Of course, modifying living beings is my greatest joy, but even I need wholesome hobbies like this sometimes. If you're curious, why not watch together?"
"Hmm—."
"This one here is Marquis Varmir of the Borderlands. He handles defense for part of the Empire's western border."
She didn't know what was so fun about it, but it might be less boring than reading books.
Thus, Priella decided to join the Doctor's rotten hobby for a bit.
Swoosh—.
Moving behind the Doctor, Priella shifted her gaze to the screen.
Beyond the translucent screen, a mustachioed noble was shown conversing.
—"Mobile Citadel Laplazia was shot down? You call that talk? Good lord, even if you want to joke, I didn't expect such nonsense at this hour!"
—"I know it's hard to believe... but everything I said is true. We're preparing to dispatch mages from the Magic Legion to the Alperatz Margraviate."
—"No, you know what the Mobile Citadel is, don't you? It's not something you can just shoot down by attacking it!"
—"......"
—"It's a facility that's tormented the Empire for over a century! That mad lord didn't end up in the Seven Corners for nothing!"
Mobile Citadel Laplazia.
Marquis Varmir showed quite a vehement reaction to the once-dominant sky fortress.
That was how deeply the existence of the Seven Corners was etched into the minds of continent-dwellers.
—"Corios Backlayer is a madman. A crazy Archmage who shoots down every flying craft that approaches his vicinity."
—"Yes, that's right......"
—"You think such an Archmage just sucked his thumb while the Mobile Citadel fell? It looks more like he saw fragments from the citadel that fell into the margraviate and mistook it for being shot down."
Stories about the lord continued to spill from the marquis's mouth.
It seemed he had many memorable encounters with the citadel's lord.
But Marquis Varmir's tale didn't last long.
The central mage conversing with him spoke up in a trembling voice.
—"Please calm down a bit and listen. From what I heard through the crystal orb..."
—"Fine. What on earth happened to cause such an absurd situation?"
—"They say the entire Mobile Citadel went up in flames."
—"......What? The Mobile Citadel burned?"
—"According to those in the margraviate, it was engulfed in flames in an instant and crashed."
The dazed Marquis Varmir stared at the mage.
Blink, blink.
After closing and opening his eyes several times, his gaze blankly fixed on his conversation partner for a moment.
Kekekekek—.
Soon, the Doctor's clear laughter echoed through the library.
"What do those fools who didn't even see His magic know? They can only flaunt their own inadequacies like that."
The Doctor mocked Marquis Varmir and the central mage.
Before him, the two's conversation continued.
The reporting mage's voice carried considerable bewilderment.
—"Specifically, a hot inferno covered the horizon's end, and a crimson pillar of fire pierced the citadel..."
—"......"
—"At least, according to what I heard, that's how the Mobile Citadel was shot down."
—"I can't tell if I heard that right... The skies over Alperatz Margraviate burned to the horizon's end?"
The marquis spoke with the face of someone hearing utter madness.
His lost eyes reflected the Magic Legion's robes.
—"Insane. That's... beyond even Forbidden Wisdom. Can you even call something like that magic? It's just a hell of fire."
—"Well, that's the report from interrogating those on site..."
—"It's the precursor to doom itself. The Mobile Citadel receiving divine punishment under burning skies? Completely mad. You're mad, and the one who reported it is mad too! Who the hell would spin such a preposterous tale——."
Static, static.
The marquis's face distorted as he continued talking.
Noise interfered with the feed transmitting to Celestia.
Yet, the Doctor smiled while watching.
Whoosh—.
Spreading his arms wide, the Doctor spoke in an excited voice.
"Look at those ignorant nobles recoiling at a mere glimpse of His Great One. Isn't watching their foolish chatter utterly amusing?"
"......"
—"Once He fully descends to the surface, I'm dying to see how those idiots react."
The Doctor, wearing a displeasing smile, savored the nobles' emotions as he listened.
After enjoying the afterglow for a moment.
Swoosh—.
Looking up, the Doctor met Priella's intrigued gaze and spoke.
"So, want to see other nobles' conversations too?"
"Yeah, I do."
—Caw—!
Nod, nod.
Confirming her enthusiastic response, the Doctor adjusted the screen.
Two people and one crow.
The three intelligent beings pressed their heads together, indulging in their wicked hobby for quite some time.