"What?"
Derek immediately turned to Michael. Michael repeated the order.
“Stand still. Don’t move an inch.”
"Ha!"
Derek made a face of incredulity.
“It's so ridiculous. It's bad enough that you, the Knight Commander of Homunculus, disobeyed me, but now you're trying to challenge my authority, eh?”
Michael retorted as politely as he could.
“The Punishment does not belong to His Imperial Highness the Sixth, it belongs to Her Royal Highness the Seventh Princess, and I, as her immediate knight and Templar, am obligated to issue orders that emphasize the safety of our members and the efficiency of our mission.”
Now that's dorky.
Derek, who accepted Michael's silence as his victory and felt proud, ordered again.
“Punishment, follow me.”
“Punishment, stop.”
“What? This kid?”
Derek and Michael's orders were in a tight fight. The royal family, the target of brainwashed loyalty, and the one about to awaken the King's words had the same value of domination.
The homunculus of punishment hesitated in confusion, unsure of what to do.
And Derek was equally confused by this situation.
When the homunculus did not behave properly, his face turned red and he shouted.
“Oh, you arrogant bastard! Sister Betty has put off the questioning, but I can’t do it. I just have to go back. Go ahead and do it. I will definitely punish you for daring to do such a disloyal thing! Do you think that's all? I'll hold your master, Eve, responsible for not properly educating you!”
Eve's name was mentioned. The thought that came to Michael's mind at that moment was as simple and clear as an impulse.
'Should I kill him?'
At that moment, the Knights of Punishment whispered to Michael.
“Chief..."
“It’s reckless.”
“In order not to disgrace Her Highness, right now..."
Punishment nodded to Michael, indicating submission.
They, too, reacted to the mention of Eve's name in different ways.
Michael opened his mouth through the pain of his fingernails digging into the flesh of his palms.
“I will take the lead.”
Given this situation, the decision was made that it would be better for him to stand at the forefront.
He went down to the place where the ground had sunk and pushed through the bushes. Michael and the twenty knights of Punishment approached the sealing stone without letting their guard down. As of yet, there were no particular signs.
The sealing stone was more than half buried in the ground and had sunk into a crater.
Because only the part that forms an obelisk shape is raised, the sealing stone looked like a memorial stone.
Before they knew it, the sun was setting in the west. A gloomy and ominous atmosphere hung over the surroundings.
“It looks like there was a large-scale landslide in the area.”
A homunculus knight said. As usual, that's all you get.
Meanwhile, Derek, who had lured everyone away, wasn't really interested in the obelisk.
He was nervously stamping his feet on the ground some distance away.
Given that the other person was Derek, it was easy to dismiss it as just an expression of emotional instability.
But Michael felt something was wrong and immediately stopped it.
“What are you doing now?”
“Ouch! Let go of this!”
Derek twisted his body violently as Michael grabbed one arm.
Of course, there was no way that the weak royal family could escape the might of a trained knight.
Derek changed his strategy and continued to dig, cleverly pretending to struggle.
He was putting in so much effort that he didn't even notice his shoes coming off.
Then something caught Derek's barefoot. A flush crossed his face, and confusion crossed Michael's.
'Found it!'
'What?'
There was a tablet on the ground in front of him. It looked to be some sort of device, interlocked with the sealing stone buried in the ground.
Michael's instincts screamed alarm, and he quickly grabbed Derek's remaining arm, restraining him from moving. But it wasn't enough.
“ Aaah!”
No law said you had to use your hands to cast alchemy. Derek stamped his barefoot like a slab of stone.
Phew!
Derek's jubilant face was swallowed by a blinding light from the sealing stone, signaling that something had been triggered.
“Ugh, ugh! Gravity...!"
Thud, thud!
The abnormal gravity mercilessly brought the homunculus knights to their knees.
Only the Homunculus, trained to remain expressionless, could hide their anguish at this moment. The enormous gravitational pull of the black gold mine, which was nowhere near as strong as it had been in the vicinity of the mine, crushed their bodies.
It was impossible to move even a single step. Even the magic of flight was useless now. His body was already stretched to the breaking point.
By now, the homunculus had nearly fallen to the ground, unable to sustain themselves on their knees. Only Michael gritted his teeth and managed to pull himself upright.
“You've set the coordinates of the gravitational enhancement magic that should be set on the demon dragon to this!
Michael turned his head. His murderous gaze was fixed on Derek, who was nearby.
“Keukkuk! Kkuuu... kuu, sa, save me..."
Even Derek, who was within range, fell prey to gravity. Gravity was too much for even the strongest homunculus, let alone the relatively weak human body.
“This, this, something is wrong... Ugh, ugh.”
Michael despised the foolishness of not being able to grasp the situation.
So, even though just talking required a tremendous amount of physical strength, he spoke as if spitting it out.
“Sixth Prince, did you really think you'd be safe if we were all killed like this?”
“You’re foolish. You’re also a loser to the Third Princess.”
The sharp words seemed to pierce Derek's head rather than his ears.
Only then did Derek remember. Hadn't he said it with his own mouth before? Brigitte was on the same side.
She is a cold-blooded person who has no blood or tears and would throw away anything.
“Ugh, ugh!”
Derek vomited blood. His belated realization was not much different from his physical state.
It was then. Gravity magic was just a side effect, and the real thing was just beginning.
The obelisk was slowly turning white.
“Captain..."
“What the heck is going on..."
It was a brutally defenseless situation. The plight of the homunculus was not unlike that of prey caught in a trap, awaiting death. A gleam of fear shone in everyone's eyes. In need of a rallying cry, they turned to their leader, Michael.
Then a pure white light poured down over their heads.
Michael and the other homunculus barely managed to fight against gravity and raise their heads.
Light has traditionally been a symbol of salvation.
But what caught Michael's eye was far from hopeful. The light here had been a disaster for Homunculus.
A complex geometric pattern covers the head like a huge ceiling.
Michael felt a terrible sense of defeat.
'It's not the floor, it's the sky! So that's why it was held together by gravity!'
In the meantime, the Sealing Stone had completed all of its initial work. The alchemy was finally activated.
"Ugh, ugh!"
The mana of Homunculus in the range has begun to be siphoned off. The color of their hair began to fade, starting with the Guide Homunculus, which has relatively little mana.
This mana was then sucked through the Obelisk and into the Sealing Stone.
'Are you planning to use Homunculus instead of Magic Stone or Philosopher's Stone as a power source?'
It was Brigitte's idea to use Homunculus's heart to charge up the Elemental Stones. Now within range of the alchemy, Homunculus had apparently offered himself as a sacrifice to reactivate the sealing stone.
Otherwise, even the 1st and 2nd parts of the body that make up the body may be taken away and you may become a mummy.
'We must destroy it quickly.'
Michael immediately put into practice what Eve had taught him.
Crunch!
He barely managed to survive in a gravity that seemed to crush his body even if he just stayed still.
He moved his right arm. He pulled out the night ray and fired his sword energy toward the floating alchemy in the sky.
Shhhh!
It was a common attack that seemed like it would tear the arm muscles. However, the sword energy passed through the alchemy without any meaning.
'No way.'
It was not the material that made up the filament that emitted light. It was light itself that made up the filament.
"Ha."
Michael let out a hasty laugh.
A bitter smile crossed his face, which was in despair.
'It's too much to go straight to the application stage as soon as we get into the actual situation.'
With a soft circle over his head that he could not override, could not break, could not bend, could not distort, Michael was in anguish. It was hard to survive with Eve by his side.
***
'The Knights aren't coming back.'
It had been a long time since the sun had set on the western horizon. The Knights should have returned long ago.
Even though it was time to do so, the punishment, the flames, and the bloodshot eyes did not return to base.
As the night deepened and the darkness grew deeper, worry settled in my mind.
It's been a long time since I've had my hands-on work.
I, unable to overcome my worries about Michael, came out to the village entrance.
“Your Highness, you are not feeling well. Please go in.”
“It’s okay, Peony.”
“Your Highness, an hour has already passed..."
Peony was anxious that my body might be injured.
I decided to give Peony something to do to help us both feel better.
“Peony, go check on Rosie.”
“Ah, that, that but...!”
“Have a nice trip.”
“Eek, yes..."
Peony noticed that I was sending her off to stop nagging and turned around with a sullen face.
I was left alone.
'Michael...'
With his mind following his body, he walked slowly to the edge of the village gate.
“Oh, and it’s raining too.”
Dark clouds laden with moisture squeezed the sky. Although not heavy, fine raindrops began to drench the world.
Then a shadow fell over my head. The arm of someone wearing a cloak became my umbrella.
I raised my head and checked the owner of the arm.
“Sir Millard?”
The silver-haired knight was there.
“...Because it’s raining.”
The reason was simple. However, Sylvestian’s eyes were unable to look straight at me and were instead avoiding my gaze.
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