Wayland let out a long, weary sigh. The situation had been laid bare; there was no longer any point in trying to hide their objectives. He gave Touko a concise summary of their mission and the events that had led them to this dilapidated house.
"I see," Aozaki Touko nodded, her expression neutral.
"Is he dead?" Wayland asked, gesturing toward the young man on the bed.
"No. I arrived a few minutes before you did. He was in the middle of stabilizing the ritual array; I 'lightly' disrupted the flow, and the backlash knocked him into a coma."
Wayland felt a cold sweat prickle his neck. A "light" disruption by a magus of her caliber was a terrifying thing to contemplate.
"You don't need to worry. I'm only borrowing the Lia Fáil for a moment," Touko said, her tone surprisingly amicable. "I have the power to take it, of course, but the Seven Holy Paladins are an annoyance I'd rather avoid. Only the Clock Tower is arrogant enough to ignore them entirely; I have no desire to invite that kind of persistent trouble into my life."
She shrugged her shoulders. As she said, she wasn't afraid of the Paladins, but she loathed unnecessary complications. She'd only just managed to get the Association's Sealing Designation off her back; the last thing she wanted was to swap one set of hunters for another.
Besides, the Stone of Destiny was a support-type artifact. For a Puppet Master of her level, its practical value didn't outweigh the headache of possessing it.
Wayland felt a wave of relief wash over him. He had no desire to count a Grand-rank Puppet Master among his enemies.
Bazett, whose body had been coiled like a spring since they'd entered the yard, seemed to relax slightly as well. While she didn't fear Touko, she was professional enough to know that a battle against a magus of that rank rarely ended well for anyone involved. There was no point in picking a fight they didn't need to win.
"This should be the spot."
Touko showed no sign of wanting to hide her actions. She stepped out of the room and into the overgrown, open courtyard.
She began to draw Runes.
Wayland stood by the doorframe, watching her Every movement. He had only mastered two Modern Runes himself, but his training had given him the ability to recognize the rest of the Futhark alphabet.
He saw her trace [Nauthiz]. Sequence 2-2. Meaning: Destiny. It represented the necessity of crossing through sorrow and misfortune to face one's fate,the 'now' that could not be avoided.
It wasn't an offensive Rune.
In the blink of an eye, the courtyard was saturated with glowing symbols. They filled the air and covered every surface until the space felt uncomfortably crowded.
A ritual array ten meters in diameter.
The Prana began to flow.
Wayland felt a primitive, lizard-brain shiver of fear.
It was impossible to draw that many symbols that quickly. She wasn't just drawing them; she was using Runes to manifest more Runes.
Composite Rune Magecraft.
The world was illuminated by a pale blue radiance. The ambient elements felt like a vast, silent ocean,immense, deep, and filled with a crushing weight that occupied every cubic inch of the yard.
Touko stood at the exact center of the array.
She held the Stone of Destiny between her thumb and forefinger, her fingers as delicate as though she were plucking a piece of fruit. She released her grip.
The Stone hovered before her eyes.
It began to vibrate, a brilliant white light erupting from its core.
The light spread outward, coating the etched Runes of the array. The silent ocean of Prana suddenly surged, rippling like the surface of a caldera moments before an eruption. The atmosphere became violent and erratic.
Waves of elemental energy began to churn, rolling through the confined space in pillars of light several meters high. A destructive, primordial power was beginning to coalesce.
Touko reached into her dress and produced a single leaf.
Wayland's eyes widened.
A blood-stained linden leaf.
'Is that... Siegfried's catalyst?'
Before Wayland could even process the shock, the leaf was placed ten centimeters below the floating Stone of Destiny.
"Destiny!"
Touko spoke the word with a voice of command.
The sprawling network of Runes began to rotate around the linden leaf. The light from the Stone of Destiny grew so intense it was blinding, pouring into the swirling cyclone of symbols.
The linden leaf began to shudder.
The sheer, overwhelming pressure of the ritual slammed into it.
Infused with the blood of Fafnir, the leaf should have been nearly indestructible by modern means. Yet, cracks began to web across its surface, following the lines of the veins. In a fraction of a second, the leaf disintegrated,not into fragments, but into a fine, black ash.
The courtyard suddenly returned to a state of absolute calm.
Wayland subconsciously clutched his chest.
Seeing a priceless Catalyst capable of summoning the hero Siegfried reduced to ash right before his eyes left him with a complex mix of awe and dread. His understanding of what it meant to be a Grand-rank magus had just been permanently recalibrated.
He noted to himself that he should probably postpone any inquiries regarding what Lord Barthomeloi had done to him for the foreseeable future.
Just as Wayland thought it was over, Touko reached into her dress again and produced a transparent, sapphire-blue sphere.
It looked like a hollow glass marble, filled halfway with a shimmering liquid.
She tapped the surface with her fingertip, creating a tiny, hairline fracture.
In an instant, a concentration of Prana so dense it was visible to the naked eye flooded the courtyard.
'Is that... Aether?'
No. It was something more.
It was liquefied Prana.
'Impossible!'
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]