The Secret Mission
“Hah... hah...”
Simon was climbing the spiral staircase, dragging in lungfuls of ragged air. Ever since he and Merida had fled, the magic circle elevator had been shut down completely.
His mind drifted back to what the Ghost of Time had told him just days ago.
—The Tower Master is scheming something, without a doubt. If a third party outside the tower changes the future, even I cannot stop it! Should anything happen to you, climb upward.
—Upward?
—Yes. Going down would only mean handing yourself straight to the Ivory Tower.
—If upward... how far up do I need to go?
The Ghost of Time had pointed a fingertip at the ceiling.
—The 100th floor, naturally!
Whatever happened, he had resolved to carry out his plan on the 100th floor—past, present, and everything else be damned.
Just then, the Pier clone clinging to his clothes spoke up.
[Kheheheh! Can we really trust that so-called Ghost of Time?]
“I can't trust him one hundred percent yet. There's no telling what he might do, using me however he pleases.” Simon exhaled slowly before continuing. “But at the very least, he doesn't seem to want me falling into the Ivory Tower's hands. And he really does seem to be on bad terms with the Tower Master.”
The Tower Master was planning to use the Tower of Time for something dangerous.
The Ghost of Time wanted to protect the Tower of Time to preserve his own existence.
Their goals were fundamentally at odds.
“His advice that I'd be caught if I went down rings true too. For now, let's meet him up top.”
[Fine! Fine! I don't follow half of it, but—!]
Thud!
The Ancient Undead Prince, freshly summoned by Simon, slammed his two fists together.
[Shut up and keep climbing. That's the gist, right?]
“Exactly, Prince.”
[Then why'd you give me this uniform?]
Prince was currently wearing Simon's Kizen uniform over himself, face hidden beneath the hood.
“Listen carefully, Prince.”
Simon's eyes turned grave. It was time to work the boy over a little.
“What I'm about to say is top-secret. You can't breathe a word of it to the other undead either. This is a secret mission entrusted to you and you alone.”
[!]
Prince puffed out a snort.
[A. SE. CRET. MISSION?]
“That's right. From this moment on, you are Simon Polentia—a student of Kizen.”
Simon clapped a hand on his shoulder.
“You speak like Simon, and you act like Simon. Draw people's eyes that way, keep them turning around the tower.”
Prince's expression deflated with disappointment.
[Aw, what? Isn't that just your run-of-the-mill stalling job?]
“But there's something you can't tell anyone, isn't there. The truth is, your real identity is Prince—the ruler of Deathland.”
[?!]
A flicker of reaction began to kindle in Prince's face.
“The fact that you are the Zombie Prince and sovereign of Deathland—you must hide it from everyone, and live the lonely life of an ordinary student in disguise.”
[The fact that I am the ruler... must be hidden... from everyone...]
“Exactly. Even if no one knows, even if no one acknowledges it, there's nothing to be done. That is the weight of a secret mission.”
Tap.
Simon struck Prince on the back.
“Go, Prince.”
Prince's two eyes lit up and sparkled like a child at play.
[I—!]
Prince kicked off the floor and rocketed upward.
Ahead, a wall blocking the entrance to the 70th floor came into view.
[SIMON POLENTIAAAAA!]
BOOOOOOOOM!
Prince shot up like a whirlwind and blew the ceiling apart. Rubble came crashing down in heaps, and through the debris Prince flashed upward.
“What the—?!”
“Those black clothes...! A Kizen uniform! It's Simon Polentia!”
Prince landed on the floor and twisted his left hand at a bizarre angle, mimicking the gesture of shielding his face.
[...Yes. Call me Simon Polentia, all of you. It makes no difference to me.]
“Grab him!”
The Ivory Tower guards opened fire with dark magic in unison. Prince's face went rapturous as he clenched his fist.
[Even if no one ever acknowledges me, so what! That's my mission!]
Then he hauled back his fist with everything he had.
[IMPERIAL GUARD—]
The moment jet-black energy gathered across his knuckles, he thrust his arm forward.
[PUNCH!]
KWAAAAAAAANG—!
The shockwave bursting from his fist blew the guards' spells clean away. A massive crater tore open in the wall, and the guards went tumbling through the air on the sheer force of the blast and its aftershocks alone.
“Wh-what kind of monstrous strength is that?!”
[Once more!]
This time his left fist came up.
[OVERLOAD PUNCH!]
“GYAAAAH!”
[And now—a Bone Armor Punch!]
While Prince carved through the guards and sowed chaos in his wake, Simon slipped safely off to the side.
...Did I pump him up a little too much?
Simon glanced back and let out a sheepish laugh.
[Kheheheh! You're becoming a proper Legion Commander, Boy! This is exactly how Ancient Undead are meant to be handled!]
The moment Prince kicked up his ruckus, reinforcements came pouring in. When the guards saw their comrades plastered against the walls, their expressions hardened into something feral.
“So it really is Kizen's Student Council President.”
“Surrender, Simon Polentia! We will not forgive an exchange student stirring up further trouble than this!”
[Heh. Heh. Heh.]
Prince crooked his right hand and pressed it to his forehead in a mock salute, murmuring to himself.
[Living as a me that isn't me... might not be so bad, actually.]
“What the hell have you been mumbling about this whole time?!”
“Grab him!”
The guards conjured fire, ice, and lightning from every direction and hurled their dark magic, and Prince snickered as he kicked off the ground and bolted.
“Do not let him escape!”
The guards swarmed after Prince in a flood. Then one of them raised a hand.
“Ah—no, um. I did receive the briefing, but... doesn't Simon Polentia seem a bit on the short side to you?”
“Is that a call you're qualified to make? Run faster!”
“Catch him! He must be caught on this floor—the 70th floor—no matter what!”
One rookie guard's question was brushed aside just that lightly.
In the confusion Prince had stirred up, Simon managed to rendezvous with Akemus as well.
Akemus reported that he had set Merida down in an empty, deserted room. Since Simon had set the Sleep curse's duration short, she should have awakened by now.
“...I hope she's all right.”
[She will be perfectly safe, my young lord.]
Simon nodded and looked ahead.
“To reach the 100th floor, we have no choice but to take the spiral staircase in the end, do we?”
[Yes, my lord.]
The Ivory Tower's spiral staircase had two lines.
One ran from the 1st floor to the 70th; the other, from the 70th to the 90th. The Ivory Tower had sealed everything from the 70th floor up precisely because it made defense easier.
Prince, posing as Simon, was busy pinning the guards' attention to himself—but the staircase between the 70th and 90th floors would surely have its own separate garrison.
“How long to reach the 90th floor?”
[Five minutes will suffice.]
There was nothing for it but to trust Akemus. Akemus spread his great wings wide, and Simon buried his face against his chest as if being cradled.
Whoosh!
The two wings wrapped around Simon's body without a gap.
[Hold tight, my young lord!]
Akemus's beak gaped wide.
SCREEEEEECH!
With the cry of a monstrous bird, Akemus took to the air. Black feathers whipping around him, he shot forward toward the spiral staircase that led to the 90th floor.
“What is that thing?!”
“Fire at will!”
Necromancers' dark magic rained down from the ground, but Akemus took the hits head-on with his own body and kept flying.
The top of the spiral staircase.
The 90th floor.
—Kzzt! The unidentified lifeform is heading for the spiral staircase! The specimen is capable of flight!
Just as Simon had predicted, the defenses up here were heavy. A senior necromancer, hearing the report, lifted his own communication crystal orb and spoke into it.
“Is it Simon Polentia?”
—No, sir! Simon Polentia is still being chased by the guards below!
The guard leaned his head in.
“Sir, then what in the world is that creature?”
“No need to know.”
The senior necromancer shut off the crystal orb. At that very moment, a colossal surge of jet-black energy was rising from the 70th floor, far below the staircase.
“I'll take full responsibility. Whatever comes up, pour every ounce of firepower we have and shoot it down.”
“Yes, sir!”
The guards holding the 90th floor all aimed their staves downward at once. Every manner of elemental magic bloomed at the staves' tips.
“Here it comes!”
SHAAAAAAA—!
Something impossible to describe—a shapeless mass of pitch-black crow feathers fused together—was hurtling up the spiral staircase.
The senior necromancer gave the order.
“Fire.”
It was a magnificent sight—hundreds of spells unleashing blinding light as they streaked upward. They hammered into the mass of black feathers one after another, raising clouds of thick smoke.
“Direct hit!”
“It must've been blown to dust—”
“Keep firing. Don't let up for a second.”
At the senior necromancer's command, the guards kept pouring out dark magic even though the smoke had blinded them completely. The aftershocks of the explosions crumbled the staircase and shook the entire tower.
And yet.
FAAAAAASH—!
The mass of feathers, having endured their entire barrage and torn straight through the roiling smoke, did not slow. The guards' faces went pale with vertigo.
“It's past the 80th floor!”
“We've already fired what must be hundreds of shots—!”
“Stand aside.”
The guards of the Tower of Time were known to be a notch below the Ivory Tower headquarters' necromancers—but among them were also strong ones the Tower Master had brought along personally.
At the senior necromancer's gesture, a silvery liquid began to reshape itself into the form of a long spear.
“...Kgh!”
The firepower was staggering.
Simon, cocooned within Akemus's body, took no direct damage—but the impacts transmitted through Akemus's frame alone were enough to make his head swim.
Akemus! Are you all right?!
Akemus's voice reached him.
[I am fine, my young lord! Straight on to the 90th floor—!]
KRRRRUNCH!
Akemus's body—that no dark magic had been able to pierce—was run through. The instant the silver spear came slamming down, Simon felt the strength drain out of Akemus's frame.
“Akemus!”
[Blast—is that mercury?!]
It was the one substance that was his weakness. Simon himself was unharmed, but the spear had lodged deep in Akemus, and the damage looked devastating.
“Are you okay?!”
[My apologies, my young lord! Given time I could mend my body, but any further flight is—!]
At those words, Simon frantically scanned his surroundings.
In the split second he was wrestling with what decision to make, he spotted it—a rabbit mask, plastered brazenly onto the 88th floor.
A signal from the Ghost of Time!
Simon grabbed hold of Akemus.
Throw me to the 88th floor, please! And you retreat as you are and recover, Akemus!
[Understood—my deepest apologies! May fortune go with you!]
Akemus flung Simon with all his strength. At the same instant, dark magic poured down once more from the 90th floor, and Akemus plummeted away.
Akemus...!
Simon, gripping the railing, watched him fall.
[Kheheheh! Worry not, Boy! With that creature's regeneration, he'll pull through.]
The guards on the 90th floor, for their part, didn't bother chasing Akemus down—holding their position was their first priority. Simon turned his head, quietly relieved.
A rabbit mask stuck to the 88th floor.
He looked carefully all around. Was something hidden here? A secret passage to the 90th floor, perhaps?
...Oh.
Staring straight ahead, Simon let out one long, incredulous laugh.
Then he raised his arm out to the side.
Pier. Your turn.
Subspace split open, and Pier emerged. In an instant he broke down into bone, slipped snugly inside the robe Simon wore, and braced his body firm around him.
Clang.
Hoisting the Greatsword of Ruin, Simon fixed his gaze straight ahead.
The method the Ghost of Time had offered was no secret passage at all.
He wants me to use that man, doesn't he.
Thud... thud... thud...
With each languid footstep, a voice like metal scraping on stone drifted out of the darkness.
[...I smell the stench of Kizen.]