I have the head of the Tower of Protection and the other scraps. If you want them back, come to the Tower of Control by the appointed time.

The message left by the witch Mombi was passed on to the Tin Knight’s party through survivors from the Tower of Protection.

Seeing its contents, Dorothea commented, “This doesn’t even look like they’re trying to hide that it’s a trap.”

She grumbled that things never seem to work out easily.

“Whether we like it or not, we have to go anyway, so from their perspective, there’s no need to hide it.”

At Sophia’s words, an uncomfortable atmosphere lingered among the party.

Dorothea’s party wasn’t fighting on equal terms with the Tower of Control purely with their own strength.

The reason they were able to conduct guerrilla warfare by hitting and running here and there was because the Tower of Protection side had deployed troops to check the Tower of Control from moving freely.

The problem was that there weren’t many people in the Tower of Protection who were enthusiastic about this war in the first place.

And the leadership, including Hermina, who led such a tower and focused on backing up the party, had been badly hit this time.

The Tower of Protection mages were frightened by the power of the Witch of the North, who had invaded alone and collapsed the tower. The frontlines were barely being maintained thanks to Hermina dedicating herself to evacuating other mages until the end, leaving some leadership remaining, and the Tin Knight’s party blowing up the enemy’s core city.

In other words.

“—From the perspective of the Tower of Protection survivors, we’re currently the only group capable of fighting on equal terms with the Witch of the North. If we refuse this invitation and ignore the Tower of Protection head, the Control side will widely propagate that we were scared of the Witch of the North and left the tower head to die. If that happens, it’s over. The survivors’ morale will be completely shattered, and we, having lost the backing of the Tower of Protection, will have no choice but to repeat lonely battles or run away.”

As the party wore dark expressions at Sophia’s conclusion, it was then.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says isn’t it just a matter of going where the opponent called and winning!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ expresses a positive view that rather than the opponent avoiding fighting us and just poking at the rear, it’s more comfortable to have a clear-cut confrontation like this!]

The Tin Knight raised his right hand as if to say, “Aren’t I so eloquent?”

Looking at him, Dorothea heaved a deep sigh, “Yeah, let’s just say it’s like that. It’s just such a comfortable thing to invade the enemy’s core stronghold, which the Witch of the North has probably further tampered with, and take their head.”

Though there was considerable irony mixed in her words, she didn’t intend to deny the Tin Knight’s words.

While she had more to consider than the Tin Knight, in the end, Dorothea also disliked complicated tangles just the same.

With the policy decided, all that remained was to realize it.

“Fortunately, the deadline gives us some leeway.”

“They’re probably trying to eliminate any room for excuses on our side. The more time we have, the harder it becomes to make other excuses.”

“Thanks to that, the Tower of Protection side will be able to fight together with us this time.”

“Didn’t you say they were scared of Mombi? Will they be of any help?”

“It’s true that many are frightened, but there are quite a few whose eyes have turned because of that. If someone broke into Dorothea’s house, destroyed it, and killed the people inside, wouldn’t you naturally burn with revenge? And because we blew up Balascamb so spectacularly, actually, if we just count the number of high-ranking mages, we have more.”

“Depending on the situation, we might need to divide our forces. The deployment—“

***

The Tower of Protection began mobilizing troops that had been guarding their own territories, marching towards the deep part of Control’s domain where the tower was located.

The Tower of Control also prepared for the decisive battle, desperately gathering strength from their halved territory as if to welcome the coming visitors.

Foresight and Annihilation prepared to move their soldiers at any time without taking sides, while remaining silent, and other nations also paid keen attention to how this civil war would unfold.

And one group looked down upon such earthly affairs from atop a high mountain, as if enjoying immortal pleasures.

Their clothes were spotlessly clean, their skin flawless without even a small scratch, and their faces gentle.

If someone on the ground had seen their appearance, they would have been unable to contain their surprise.

Priests of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Close to five of them were gathered in one place, people said to be difficult to meet even once in a lifetime unless born of high noble or royal blood.

“We’ve tried to incite them a few times, but the Tower of Foresight doesn’t seem interested in getting involved in this matter.”

“The same goes for Annihilation. It’s good that they’re belligerent, but they’re unnecessarily sharp, which is troublesome.”

“It’s a shame, a shame. If things had flowed as the Tower of Control initially planned, we could have drawn a big picture of the Empire and Magic State clashing.”

“I think this is not bad in its own way. Lotbart Rognir is such a cautious person that if things had gone smoothly according to his plan, there was a risk that his power might grow beyond our control.”

“That’s right. If he hadn’t been cornered like this, even that cunning old man would never have used the extreme measure of releasing Mombi’s seal. But he has unsealed the witch, and now he’s in a situation where he has to force other towers to their knees through physical war rather than the originally planned political offensive.”

“But hasn’t he gained the great force of the Witch Mombi? Isn’t Mombi much more dangerous than Orin, who barely moved while in seclusion?”

“The Witch Mombi is a hedonistic person. She might move together with Lotbart for a while as their interests align, but she’s absolutely not someone who will obediently follow his intentions forever.”

“The old man borrowing Mombi’s power might be able to get his hands on the Magic State, but the process will be extremely violent and destructive. The Magic State will undoubtedly be greatly weakened. Above all, the old man has already borrowed our power, so controlling him through a contract will be a simple matter.”

“But… isn’t there a possibility that Mombi and Lotbart could be defeated? In that case, the Magic State will suffer much less damage than expected, and it will become tricky to control their movements afterward.”

At the doubt voiced by one of the priests, the other priests who had been speaking fluently all closed their mouths at once.

One of them quietly shook his head.

“Such a thing must not happen.”

Another priest also agreed.

“If the Tower of Control completely collapses, the grand plan will also greatly deviate. To prevent that, lending some power to the old man might be a method.”

“But will it be alright? Those who are facing the witch now are the ones who have collected the most relics currently. If they’re all annihilated, won’t another plan go awry?”

“It’s fine. In that case, we just need to spread the value of relics widely across the continent. If we advertise it as the power that crushed a major city of the Magic State in one go, there will be an absurd number of people drooling over it.”

“Rather than intervening when the war is in full swing, it would be better to work behind the scenes. I’ll add more power to the gray old man.”

“—Wait a moment.”

At the suddenly interjecting voice, the priests’ expressions all hardened at once.

As they were having a conversation that could turn the entire continent upside down if it leaked outside, the space where they were was thoroughly isolated by holy power.

Even if someone came up to the mountain where they were, they would see nothing but natural scenery, as if no one was there.

Yet someone had casually intruded here, breaking through all those defenses, so it was no wonder the priests were on guard.

“I don’t care if you kill the other kids. But not Dorothy.”

Black hair, black eyes. A beautiful girl with a flower ornament in her hair.

Just as the priests were about to draw up their holy power, the one who looked like the eldest among them widened his eyes and hurriedly bowed.

“We are in the presence of one of the Lord’s four great swords…!”

At his words, the other priests, also flustered, bowed together.

Extreme reverence towards the girl oozed from each of their expressions and movements.

Receiving more courteous treatment than even an ordinary king, the girl nonchalantly brushed it off and said, “You probably have your own things to do, so I won’t tell you not to move at all, but Dorothy is an exception. Hmm, or is it?”

The girl suddenly tilted her head, then soon groaned as if lost in thought, “I like that wild flower-like feeling of Dorothy, so if she changes into a greenhouse flower due to unnecessary consideration, her beauty might rather decrease. I want to see her overcoming crises, but ‘letting her overcome’ by adjusting the difficulty from our side feels like it lacks excitement, how should I put it, hmm. What should I do?”

The girl’s appearance of walking back and forth in the same place while muttering to herself seemed emotionally very unstable, but the priests’ attitude towards her remained unchanged.

Then, the girl clapped her hands together with a snap, “Come to think of it, it might be better for you to just do as you please. If Dorothy overcomes even that, it’ll be great to see a wonderful sight, and if she fails to overcome this and dies… then I can plant a seed and keep her by my side.”

The girl’s face, smiling while saying this, was innocent and beautiful, but the content was extremely distorted.

However, the priests did not voice any objections to this.

The girl was an angel.

She was one of the four swords existing in the Kingdom of Heaven, acting on behalf of the Great One’s will.

When such a being said she would do as she pleased with the life of one earthly creature, there was no need to argue about it anywhere.

If heaven so decreed, earth had to obey.

“—What utter nonsense.”

And, on earth, there existed a witch who utterly despised such celestial arrogance.

Boom!

The shock of air compressed to the extreme being released at once was similar to a huge bomb.

One of the high mountain peaks was greatly shaved off, and the barrier there was also destroyed in an instant.

The priests tried to protect themselves by drawing out emerald-colored energy, but the overwhelming torrent of mana crushed all those defenses like insects.

For the death of priests who had been looking down on the earth like a chessboard and plotting various schemes, it was too empty an end.

As if quite pleased with that, a satisfied expression settled on the face of the witch, Algind Goodwitch.

Though her doll-like expressionlessness, as if her facial muscles had died, remained the same.

She calmly spat out harsh words, “The earth is not your plaything. Hearing you talk as if handling some game board makes me so disgusted I can’t stand it.”

It was a mutter that seemed like talking to herself from the ruined mountain peak, but a response definitely came back.

“You’re not much different, are you?”

It was the black-haired girl.

Despite being hit by the strike that sent the priests to the afterlife in an instant, the girl seemed to have no particular damage other than her clothes being slightly disheveled.

“You’re using Dorothy and her party like horses too, what right do you have to say this and that only to us?”

At the girl’s scathing point, Algind cleared her throat with an “Ahem,” and then—

“Yes, this is not a matter of qualification, but of likes and dislikes.”

Who cares about logic. I’m doing this because I dislike you, what are you going to do about it?

At the extremely violent argument, the black-haired girl’s expression frowned.

“I, I don’t like your type. I want to get rid of you quickly and go watch Dorothy.”

“That’s very good information. You filthy celestial dog. Until this matter is over, I’ll make sure you can’t even get near them.”

“If you had come in your complete state it might be different, but with just half of you…”

Numerous seeds were scattered around the black-haired girl. The seeds grew in the blink of an eye, transforming into soldiers with pumpkin heads.

A masked figure appeared beside Algind. Water and wind magic surged up, creating a huge waterspout.

On Mount Bifrost, the highest mountain in the Magic State, dozens of kilometers away from the Tower of Control.

There, a behind-the-scenes bloody battle that would not be recorded in history unfolded.

***

https://ko-fi.com/genesisforsaken