Steel and Mana

Chapter 269 – A God’s Formation (2)

Leaving the castle was done not on foot but in the cockpit of the Lion. Father wouldn't let me go out just like that, so he told me that if I wanted to visit the discovery myself, I had to do it in the seat of his mech. At least, then, I would be not only protected but also able to dish out ample pain if necessary.

Trudging through the snow was more manageable in the machine anyway, which was equipped with a tower shield, a broadsword, and a flamethrower attached to my back and able to flip over my shoulders when needed. I told him it was overkill as I was not expecting to fight... but I could feel my mother's piercing gaze behind me, tickling my spine.

Piloting it felt, once again, just as incredible as for the first test run. If I were a bit more impatient ruler, I may have ordered everything to be dropped so they could build me on my own. But I am in charge of tens of thousands of lives, and I can't put my desire to play around with my own above the others. Especially when equipping more of our soldiers was the logical choice, which resulted in a much better allocation of resources.

It didn't take long for me to reach the first soldier, who was standing in the Pass, maintaining a radio connection and saluting all the way while I passed by him. By the reports coming in, the spell they found was still active, visibly rotating and blocking the pathway. Now, I had multiple questions rising within me.

Was it always there? Or is this a unique appearance? Is it related to the long winter? Is it there through the summer days, blocking monsters from coming through? Is it a magical filter? Letting some through while stopping others? What… is… it?

Hopefully, I will soon learn the truth—or at least some parts of it.

When I reached the spot where I could already see the corpses of two monsters, I couldn't help but feel awed. Not because of their frozen carcasses. But because of the twenty-meter high formation hanging in the air a bit further away, shimmering and looking like a beautiful, inconceivably complex snowflake. Its eight outer arms were rotating clockwise, while its middle was doing the same counter-clockwise, constantly pulsating when runes, even if for a second, slotted into place, changing form until another cycle activated them. Watching it, it happened over and over, across thousands of runes. If not more...

"Sovereign!" the soldiers saluted the Lion, speaking to me via our radio connection. "Please be careful; the closer we get, the colder the air is—painfully so."

They were right. I used my sword to scoop up snow, flinging it forward like a kid. I watched it reach about twenty meters of the formation, turning into solid blocks as it transformed the snow into one block of ice that landed with a loud thud. I think we found the reason behind our extreme winter. Whatever this thing was, if not creating it, then it was enhancing it. And if I am right, then this formation is not here all the time. Or it doesn't work like this every winter.

Looking at the carcasses, at least what was sticking out of the snow, the way they were mangled, their blood glistering as it fused with the white blanket they wore, I could tell from the clues that they fought and killed each other. Recalling the one we slew years ago, it was evident that these two were trying to rip the other's core out. The claw marks were a clear indication of it on both of their bodies.

This meant that they walked through the spell and got clear of it, but it didn't kill them.

"We are going to bring the corpses back with us!" I said, giving out orders. "All of you, start and prepare to leave! Sweep the surroundings of the corpses. I don't want to step on something we may miss because of the snow! In the meantime, I will try to memorize this spell."

After the soldiers present began their preparations, I turned my eyes back to the floating formation in the middle of the Pass. We were flanked by tall mountains like we were in a tunnel. While looking behind it, the road continued twisting, but I could see it. There was a slope in the distance, and I could see the mountain pass widening. We were close to the beast's territory. I was sure of it! I will have to talk about this with Merlin... The original one. He traveled through it, and he has the answers to many of my questions in his mind.

While standing there, memorizing and taking snapshots of the spell, I began realizing that I did not understand all aspects of it. There were runes in it, flashing and changing, variables that were… alien. I don't mean that they were new. I mean, they were not from this world. The runes that made up all of magic, thanks to Merlin's affinity, were laid out bare before me years ago, allowing me to come up with spells. The building blocks that made this spell were half and half. Those that I recognized were from this world, but the other part… They were not.

"Fascinating…" I mumbled to myself.

I now 99% was sure that the 'Gods' were indeed not gods, but, well, aliens. Probably a higher-level civilization or mages from the outside world. From the same cosmic tapestry, I witnessed when I almost died. What we found here was literally our own version of a Roswell incident. I was deep in trying to figure out the meaning of the spell, at least that part I could read when the radio connection crackled.

"Sovereign!"

"Yes?" I flinched, turning my attention towards the panicked voice of my soldiers.

I didn't need to ask what it was as my eyes focused on the waving warriors, zooming in and seeing what made them so nervous. There was a third corpse. Belonging to a human…

…
….
……

"Sovereign!" Merlin yelled, rushing up to me proudly. "I brought back a great trophy!"

"Me too." I chuckled, making him stop in his steps at the front entrance to my palace, almost making him slip on the ice.

"The monsters came?!" He asked at once, finding his balance, being helped to straighten himself by Elena's hands, who came with him.

"No, but we entered the Pass yesterday to investigate and found two monster corpses."

"You went in?! And I missed it?!" He yelled, going pale, making Elena shrug and look at me pleadingly to stop teasing him, but I was enjoying it.

"Yeah. There is a formation active within it that is for sure not of this world."

“…”

"I have already drawn it out; it took me the whole day! I just finished when my men notified me you returned."

“…”

"Also, there was a–"

"Stop!" Merlin shouted, gasping for air, holding his chest, "I feel weak… I am going to have a heart attack… I'm dying… I'm seeing stars! Lights! They are calling me!"

"Stop it!" Elena grunted, walking forward, slapping the back of his head, straightening out my swaying Prime Minister. "Hmph! This is stupid. I am going to find Lady Sasha and Lady Mikan and help them deal with the prisoners. Hmph… boys… Stupid idiots..." She snorted, storming away, leaving us there, and I couldn't help but grin.

"But… but I brought back a ship…" He mumbled, looking up at me with crocodile tears in his eyes.

"Which is fantastic!" I answered and patted his head, "With the two monster corpses and your loot, we can speed up our airship production!"

"Um… but formation. Big. Adventure. Pass. New magic. Me not here. Me here. Not There. Here." He sniffled, making me continue to mess up his hair as I tried to help him hold back his tears.

"Look at it from this point of view. I already brought everything back; you can study it freely without the hassle of needing to leave or listen to Elena's angry shouting about how reckless you were going out. Oooh, you are such an idiot! What if you got obliterated by a God's magic?"

"Lady Sasha?" Merlin asked, suddenly back to normal, twitching the corner of his lips, the tears on his face vanishing rather quickly.

"No. That was Luna. Sasha gave me the cold shoulders and the silent treatment. Mikan was just kindly smiling, agreeing with everyone else, but did not berate me openly."

“…”

"So? Still grumpy, my Prime Minister?"

"N-no…" He sighed, quickly realizing the advantages of his situation.

"LEOOOOCCCHYYYYY!"

I had no time to react as a figure flashed forth from nowhere, jumping on me like a face hugger from a certain movie, pushing me onto the snow-covered, cold floor. Before I could yelp, her burning lips pressed against me. Of course, it was Yuri.

"I heard you got the cold shoulders?" She continued, "Good. Then you are pent up! Let's go and fuck like rabbits!"

"I am also glad to see you again, I thought—"I began, caressing her face, but she simply interrupted me, jumped off, and began to pull me by my hands like a rag on the floor.

"No talk, more fucking!"

"I will go ahead and check your notes!" Merlin shouted after me, waving as if he was enjoying seeing my fate as revenge for leaving him out of my brief little exploration. Oh well… I wasn't mad. I was indeed pent up…

…
….
……

It was late at night when I entered my study, and I found Merlin there sitting on the floor. He was surrounded by stacks of papers and about a hundred drawings, his hair a mess and mumbling to himself like a madman. I probably looked the same an hour ago when Yuri finally let me go. I fainted twice while we did it… But, after I came to be for a third time, I felt light, refreshed. So, I slipped out, leaving my bundle of wives sleeping… deciding not to worry why I don't remember them joining in on the fun.

"Are you okay?" I asked, holding a towel and wiping my wet hair, coming directly from the bathroom.

"Huh? Ah… No…” Merlin answered, looking up at me with bloodshot eyes. "I…"

"Hm?"

"I don't understand it."

"Me neither." I shrugged, crouching down, watching his drawings. "Are you thinking of the same thing?"

"It isn't from our world. It isn't part of our magic system." He nodded, his stomach growling, making me smile.

"Come, I have some snacks prepared!"

Pulling him up from the floor, I led him out to the dining room to munch on some leftovers of meat and rice, having a midnight dinner.

"I have been thinking about it myself," I started after biting into a slice of chicken breast, "It had to be done by one of the Sixes, probably the one named Wyland."

"Um." He agreed at once, his mouth already full like a chipmunk, "It has to be. I am pretty sure that they used their magic to adapt to our world's rules and laws, complementing it with their higher-level understanding in creating that spell!"

"This means that our current magic system is compatible with a higher-tiered one. It can evolve into the same thing that the so-called Gods used." I nodded, having the same idea as him. "My interest is in its function."

"You mentioned in your notes that it was rotating. I followed the patterns and what I could decipher, that it is…"

"Counting down." I finished for him, now being sure that he confirmed my initial findings. I was deliberate to not record any of my guesses and conjectures, only the details of what I saw. Now that he had studied it, if he had come to the same conclusions as I had, I am much more sure of them being correct.

"Yes." He nodded, becoming much grimmer for a moment. "I have no proof, Leon, but… I feel like that spell is adapting and changing. God Wyland created one that complements our world, and I would bet my powers that it is adjusting to the changes that are happening here!"

“The question is… Are the changes made by us… or…”

"What do you mean?" He asked, looking at me leaning back in my chair, furrowing my brows. "The corpse?! The beasts' homeland?!" He suddenly remembered.

"Yeah." I answered after a momentary pause. "I can take you to the body after we finished eating. I don't know if I should call it a human, though…"

"So it isn't someone we sent on the Walk?"

"No. It is not." I nodded, "It is as much of a human as a ship slave is."

"Could it be a corpse from an old war? We, I mean, my old version did pass through there a few times."

"Nope! This one is too fresh, and all evidence points towards that it came with one of the monsters."

"With one of them…" He whispered, feeling that it indeed was a weird clue.

"Yeah… I am going to dissect the monsters myself because the indications are troubling. I need you to try to talk with your old self. I need both of your minds to work on it."

"Yeah." He nodded, wiping his mouth, his eyes flashing with excitement, "I think he will not avoid me anymore after this…"