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  Conjunction: The Unfinished Hope

  —————

  Those who know true hope are the ones who stand on the brink of the abyss of despair.

  Those who have already fallen in can never hope again, and those on the precipice are more hopeful than anyone else.

  Thus, those who are cornered create things that will save them.

  It might be beliefs that speak of the salvation of the soul, lives that carry their wills to the next generation... or beings that can shatter the encroaching despair.

  ◇◆

  Long ago, in the age of what was now known as the “pre-ancient civilization,” there was a weapons plant deep within the mountains that eventually became part of the Quartierlatin County.

  It had equipment for mining resources, turning them into materials, extracting energy from the earth, and producing Prism Soldiers. Everything inside was advanced enough to work without human interference.

  Despite this, there were people inside.

  They were in the deepest depths of the facility, developing the most important thing within.

  Standing behind fortified glass, they used remote-controlled manipulators to bring it further to completion.

  Suddenly, the automatic door to their workroom opened, and a man walked inside, accompanied by a small child.

  “Sir?” one of the workers asked. “Why did you bring your son here?”

  “We completed the core yesterday, didn’t we?” he replied. “I want to show it to him. It’s the hope that’ll save our world... and all the children of the future.”

  As they had that exchange, the boy walked up to the glass wall. The thing beyond made him gasp in amazement.

  “Dad, is that the thing that will protect us?”

  “It is. Acra-Vesta will save everyone,” his father replied.

  The clockwork sphere behind the glass was the weapon’s artificial intelligence block. It would eventually be shielded by a frame and hull, completing it as a weapon.

  This anti-incarnation weapon, as it was labeled, had the groundbreaking ability to develop and produce its own parts, as well as the equipment that would create them.

  The workers were only laying the foundation for the auto-creation process. Once this was done, Acra-Vesta would begin turning itself into a superweapon.

  “Really?” the boy asked eagerly.

  “Yes.” His father nodded. “Acra-Vesta is our hope. It will beat the incarnations and save the world.”

  The word “incarnations” referred to the nightmarish beings that were attacking the pre-ancient civilization. They were the very source of their despair.

  One of them was immortalized on the wall of the plant’s hall, along with some writing and the name of the genius who’d designed this facility, to make sure no one ever forgot their terror.

  “Wowww!” the boy became excited. Hearing that this machine here would save the world filled him with joy. “When that happens, will we get to see Mom again?”

  His dad was silent. That was something that couldn’t happen even if the world was saved, but the man couldn’t bring himself to say it.

  This era was full of such tragedies. They were building Acra-Vesta to prevent any more of them from happening.

  “Sure... When the world is at peace again,” he said as he patted his son’s head, before taking his hand and leaving the workroom.

  “Bye bye!” The boy waved his free hand to Acra-Vesta’s intelligence block. “See ya!”

  There was no response to those words. All you could hear from the machine were the silent sounds made by its optical sensor.

  ◇◆

  It was a two-millennia-old superweapon created to become mankind’s hope.

  Ironically, its awakening in the present day was triggered by a battle between two factions of men.

  Devils were attacking Quartierlatin.

  Marionettes were infiltrating the ruins.

  Fatally glitched Prism Soldiers were moving out.

  And the people were struggling against them all.

  In spite of that, Acra-Vesta didn’t move.

  But the incomplete superweapon knew that the time for awakening was drawing near.

  Chapter One: Battle of the Fairy Tales

  The Town of Quartierlatin

  Hell General Logan Goddhart had unleashed two thousand devils upon Quartierlatin. Now, the Dryfean Superior continued to terrorize the town.

  It was early in the morning. The alarm sounding throughout the area woke everyone up and had them scrambling for safety.

  Sitting on the back of a devil different than the ones comprising the army, Logan looked down at the town like it was anthill.

  “I’m attacking a town...” he muttered. “Franklin tried the same thing a month ago and failed, didn’t he?”

  Gifted Barbaros had given him a quest: to derange the forces protecting Quartierlatin. In his mind, that was the same as invading the town.

  Not that he was wrong. The defending force would definitely have to shift their focus to him.

  However... he had no intention of limiting himself to being just diversion.

  “Looks like there are two ways I’ll succeed where he failed: I’ll beat The Unbreakable and take the town.” The Hell General grinned. “Lots of trees in this town. It’ll burn real well. Fire it is.”

  Thus, the two thousand devils began spewing balls of flame. They hit the houses, trees, and the inhabitants, setting everything on fire.

  “In the war, I found out NPCs give a lot of XP,” he grinned. “I’m on a mission from Dryfe, so they won’t put me on the wanted list. I’ll gather as much as I can here.”

  People were burning, screaming in pain, but the horrid sight did nothing to Logan — he cared only about the XP.

  The reek of scorching death didn’t reach him; in his eyes, they were only CG characters covered in flames that were just as artificial.

  To someone who had that setting on — especially for one who thought of this as nothing but a game — this was just him following his quest. Killing the NPCs for XP was just a nice bonus. It meant nothing to him. The only life he cared about here was that of his quest giver, Gifted Barbaros. It didn’t go anywhere beyond that.

  Despite being a Superior, one of the most prominent Masters, he still saw Infinite Dendrogram as nothing but a game.

  “Hm?” He raised an eyebrow as he looked down at an army of about two hundred knights. “Is that the defense force?”

  Those were the tian knights protecting the Quartierlatin County. They were moving out to defend the people from the vile, cruel demons burning their town and killing the townsfolk.

  “Ha!” Logan laughed, ridiculing the knights’ desperate, valiant resistance against the devilish horde. “They must have some bad AI. They don’t have the quality or the quantity, but they’re still coming at me. Idiots.”

  Yes, even their courage was worthless stupidity to this man.

  Logan let loose ten devils for each knight.

  It was far too much for a common tian, knight or otherwise, and they quickly overwhelmed them, halting their advance.

  The scene felt like a replay of the war.

  “They’re weak, but they’re still battle jobs. They give more XP than other NPCs,” he said in satisfaction before moving on.

  Eventually, he ran into a certain building.

  “There are a lot of them in there,” he said. “That makes it easier for me.”

  He was looking at an orphanage. It was full of children and workers hiding from the scary devils.

  But even this was just “an easy target” for him.

  Logan decided to shower the building in dozens of fireballs, simply because that was the most effective wa
y to burn everyone inside.

  “I hope I find more places like this. They’ll make XP farming a real cakewalk,” he muttered as he raised the greatsword in his right hand.

  He was preparing to give the signal to fire and set the orphanage aflame. The idea that he was about to take the lives of many children hadn’t even crossed his mind. After all — this was just a game. To him, doing this felt no different than opening a treasure chest in an RPG.

  “Fi—” But his signal, the word “fire,” was cut short by a sudden turn of events — the complete extermination of all the dozens of devils he’d prepared for the attack.

  Some shattered into little pieces.

  Some were split in two.

  Some expelled all their blood and collapsed.

  Some began attacking their own, as if someone had taken control over them.

  The ways were different, but one thing was certain — someone had killed the devils.

  “What?” Logan looked around in confusion. He was surprised that someone here could destroy his Demi-Dragon-tier creatures so easily, and he wondered who it was.

  “I didn’t expect to see something so disgustingly familiar on my morning walk,” the answer came in the form of a man’s voice — or, rather, music that sounded like it. “Apologies, but I promised the children here I would play music for them. I know I am in not in the position to talk, considering what I did in Gideon... but I won’t let you harm them.”

  The owner of the voice was standing before the orphanage.

  It was an old man. He was surrounded by machines reminiscent of metal musical instruments, donning the shapes of a kobold, centaur, harpy, and cat sìth.

  He was the King of Orchestras, Veldorbell.

  Once a Master belonging to Dryfe, now he was merely a wandering musician who played music alongside his Embryos.

  “You’re... King of Orchestras!” Logan exclaimed. He knew the old man’s name. Franklin was a rival to him, after all, so of course he knew all the top fighters from the mad scientist’s clan. “Why are you here?! Did Franklin send you to get in my way?!”

  “No.” The old man’s music silently sung. “I’ve left The Triangle of Wisdom.”

  And I doubt Franklin cares about you enough to get in your way, the old man’s tone implied, though he didn’t put it in the lyrics.

  “Then why are you here?” Logan demanded.

  “Like I said, the orphans in here are my audience. I won’t stand by and let some vile devils take them from me.”

  “Huh...? What are you talking about?” Logan couldn’t begin to understand.

  He’ll play for some orphans? Is that a quest or something? he wondered. That was the only way he could process it. After all, what else could it be?

  Veldorbell ignored his confusion and added, “Not to mention that a man who does nothing in a movement like this has no business writing a hero’s saga. That is what’s most important to me.”

  The old man had started playing Infinite Dendrogram for the sole purpose of getting the inspiration he needed to write an opera depicting the life of a hero. He would attack or defend, but never stand still and do nothing. And like the free Master that he was, he was choosing to defend his audience instead of standing in line with his old faction and attacking.

  “A saga?” Logan repeated. “Write about me, then.”

  “Hm?” Veldorbell tilted his head in confusion.

  That made Logan irritated. How could the old man not understand something so simple? “I’m the hero of this game. There’s no better person for you to write about.”

  In response, Veldorbell merely chuckled, contradicting the Hell General’s claim more eloquently than any words ever could.

  “You damn...” Logan instantly began boiling with anger. “You’re a support build for support builds! Do you seriously think you stand a chance against the Hell General?!”

  “Who knows? What about you? Do you think a suppression type like you can do anything against an extermination type like me?”

  “Stop talking! I’m the Hell General! The most numerous and the strongest Superior in Dryfe!”

  “Fix your tone, brat. And you’re neither of those things.”

  “Shut up!” Logan gave in to anger and mobilized his devils. A hundred or so of them charged at the elder, hungry for his head.

  Their charge was menacing...

  “Percussion’s music isn’t so weak as to be broken without a plan.”

  ...but they stood no chance against the invisible vibration waves. Those pulverized them in seconds.

  Logan was shocked.

  “Heart Beat Palpitation.” That was the name of the music created by Percussion, the Bremen playing the drums.

  Thanks to the passive skill Veldorbell held as King of Orchestras, “Orchestral King’s Conducting,” that music had been enhanced several times over, becoming a fearsome field of vibrations so powerful they broke apart physical material.

  Marie, the Superior Killer, had had to fake her own death to stand a chance against it. It was one of the most powerful defense-offense hybrid skills to come from Dryfe.

  “Tch!” Logan spat.

  “No point in talking anymore,” Veldorbell sighed, and stood like the conductor he was, his supreme orchestra at his side. He looked at the Superior devil-commander. “Come. My divine ensemble shall crush all of your imps.”

  “You dare mock me...?! You senile sixth-former!”

  And thus the two were matched up.

  The ex-strongest fighter from Dryfe’s top clan, the Triangle of Wisdom: the King of Orchestras, Veldorbell.

  The reigning duel champion of Dryfe and Superior — Hell General, Logan Goddhart.

  This was the beginning of their battle.

  ◆

  Among the tales from the Brothers Grimm, there was one called “Rumpelstiltskin.”

  It went something like this:

  A poor miller once lied that his daughter could spin straw into gold.

  It spread as a rumor, and when the king caught wind of this, he captured the daughter and locked her up, saying, “Spin all this into gold by morning. If you do that for three days in a row, I’ll take you as my queen. If you don’t, I’ll have your head.”

  When the powerless girl gave up all hope, an imp-like creature appeared before her, offering to spin straw into gold in exchange for some jewelry.

  This happened twice, but the third time, the feat came at the cost of her eventual firstborn, and she had no choice but to comply.

  Having cleared the king’s condition, the girl became the queen.

  But when she had her firstborn, she begged the creature not to take him. The creature agreed on the condition that she guess its name within three days.

  In the end, she discovered that the imp shared its name with the tale — Rumpelstiltskin.

  Now, what kind of powers would a Superior Embryo of the same name have? What could False Finesse, Rumpelstiltskin actually do?

  It was based on the “spinning straw into gold” part of the story. Job skills under its effects became significantly more powerful.

  In its first form, it could only double a single number in job skill descriptions, but as it evolved, its multiplication grew, as well as the quantity of numbers it could influence.

  At this point, the Embryo’s constantly-active ultimate skill, “Straw-into-Gold, Rumpelstiltskin,” could multiply ten numbers by ten.

  That made Rumpelstiltskin the Embryo that could use job skills better than any other, uplifting them to new levels.

  For this invasion, Logan had multiplied the points he’d gotten from his sacrifice. Then he’d done the same for Call Devil Regiment’s summon count and time.

  And unlike how it was with Summoner creatures, the devils created by his skills didn’t need any fixed catalysts. The stats were in the description, and he was free to alter them.

  He’d multiplied all of them except for LUC — the multiplication didn’t have much of an effect there — by ten.


  Points, summon count, summon time, and seven stats. That made ten numbers multiplied, and Logan believed this was the best way to use his Rumpelstiltskin and Hell General combo.

  On the other hand, Logan rarely used skills besides his summons and army. He had party enhancement skills, but he didn’t like them much.

  Upholding them required lots of MP, and the cost scaled with the power of the buffed devils. Though Logan’s Rumpelstiltskin could increase effect power, it couldn’t reduce costs. Even his summon point manipulation was no exception. He merely increased the points he had, not lowered the costs of his summons.

  Additionally, though he had three stat buff skills to choose from — one for STR, one for END, and one for AGI — they only increased the stats by 20%. Multiplying that number by ten would only give him a 200% enhancement.

  Logan’s ultimate skill was more effective when used on the base stats during summoning.

  Basically, Logan preferred to fight by letting his Rumpelstiltskin-enhanced devils crush his enemies.

  Thanks to the nature of his Embryo, he’d quickly cleared the job conditions — including “summon count” — for Hell General, and he’d reached a Superior Job without even filling up the rest of his job slots.

  Despite that, his devil army was a powerful force. A horde that could be restored with a single skill was menacing indeed, and that was how Logan had won most of his victories outside of the arena.

  After all, who could stand a chance against such overwhelming numbers?

  ◆

  That question was answered by his battle against Veldorbell. He hadn’t expected what was happening here at all.

  Reason insisted that a battle-focused Superior like Logan should absolutely dominate the support job from the conductor grouping pre-Superior that was Veldorbell.

  And yet...

  “Tch!” Logan clicked his tongue, his face in a grimace.

  The reason for his frustration was that his devil army seemed to stand no chance against the old man’s Bremen. Faced with the vibration field, the devils didn’t know how to continue. Charging ahead would make them shatter, and the fire they launched disappeared like mist.

  The deadly mix of defense and offense was too much even for a horde of Demi-Dragon-tier devils.