Interlude V: Progress

Humming filled the dimly lit space, enclosed in white, inorganic material. Hundreds of rotors spun under their white metal exterior, as four large machines on four sides of the circular room roared to life, sending vibration through the thick floor and wall of the room.

Clear tubes ran from the main body of each machine, all marked with a glowing magic circle, to its single, long appendage, angled up with the tip pointed down at the center of the room. Through the tubes, gas-like matter flowed to the tip of each arm; bright gold color for two, pitch black for the others.

The empty space at the center of the room distorted for a brief moment. Sound of vibration similar to those made by electric current echoed off the walls, increasing in its intensity as what looked like mass of pure energy emerged; the gold and the black intertwined but not mixed, like oil and water. The mass of energy moved erratically, shrinking, growing, pointing in every direction, as if trying to escape, disperse.

After a moment of fighting, two color lights deflected of each other and disappeared into thin air with a loud, explosion-like sound, leaving not even a puff of smoke behind.

A middle-aged man in a long clean white robe observed the phenomenon from behind a large pane of glass separating the circular space from the square room, his expression flat as he uttered in equally flat voice.

"That concluded the seventh Holy-Dark Fusion Experiment."

Others wearing similar clothing in the room behind glass let the tension escaped from their body, some in silence, some with a sigh. They all went back to their job, fingers hitting the several buttons on flat metal plates or writing something on papers.

Three figures stood at the back of the room, observing the whole event.

"H~m, it really was too much to hope for." The nine tail kitsune in traditional Yamatai robe put the tip of her folded fan on her chin, brows furrowed.

"From an initial observation based on sight alone, the results didn't seem to be different from the previous experiment. Although we still have to wait for the full report." A woman with green hair tied into a ponytail crossed her arms with serious expression; the green robe she wore contrasted with the white of the surrounding.

"Sorry for rushing you people on such a difficult experiment."

"There is no need for apologies, Miss Tamamo. The support you sent is also very much appreciated; it should be us who thank you." An elderly man smiled gently. With his long white robe and a tall hat normally worn by a man of cloth at the highest position, he stuck out as much as his other two companions.

"But it was also true that we are going too fast. The analysis of the chemical and magical components of [White Rabbit] is still under way. And the method to produce high purity Holy energy with enough volume has yet to be found." The green-haired woman confirmed the situation in a matter-of-fact manner.

"Hm, they are all stubborn bunch, after all."

In this world, angels were the only sources of high density Holy energy. With the annihilation of Goddess Ilias, Heaven had lost its form, scattering massive amount of Holy energy into the atmosphere of the lower world. Being diluted, there had not been direct effects to humans and monsters, but it had brought about a change to the entire world. One of such changes was granting the lower world's denizen's ability to directly touch angels, consequently making their adjustment to the world's society going much more smoothly.

However, the higher on the hierarchy the angels were, the more intense their devotion to Goddess Ilias was. The angels on the ninth circle, the lowest, which ninety percent of all angels belonged to, had spent the past five years adapting themselves to the society of humans and monsters to a significant degree. But most of the angels of the eighth circle upward were either still in intangible form or hidden in secluded corner of the world. Archangel Mariel, who was still quite young, was the only exception.

"At the moment the Alchemists Association is conducting analysis on the White Rabbit serum as we have for the past three years. With the request from Demon Lord Castle, we have given it higher priority and paused some of the minor projects.. Even so, we still cannot estimate the time it would take to complete the task." The green-haired woman explained the situation on her side.

"The researchers at our royal palace are in the middle of analyzing the mechanism of the equipment brought from here. We will apply the knowledge we gained to improve on the equipment in this experiment as much as we can. But we need to prioritize the technology required for the maintenance of the chimera monsters as well." The elderly man also explained his.

"I understand. Thank you for your cooperation." Tamamo nodded. She then turned to address the elderly man directly.

"I know it is late to be saying this, but I am still surprised that the head of all the clergymen would agree so readily with such a leap of technology."

At one of the world's leaders council four years ago, the topic of the remains of Promestein's technology came up. The first to push for the study of them were none other than the Pope of San Ilia, Peter XIV.

"Witnessing the crystal of such incredible technology had sparked the engineer long forgotten within me. Though I may not look like it, before I became a man of religion, I used to be a horologist; working on clocks and watches was my everyday. It seems my interest in the gears and clockworks had not been entirely gone."

"I remembered the whole room had their jaws dropped for full seconds. You must've been quite satisfied that you managed to surprised the young'uns." Tamamo grinned mischievously.

"Hoho. Surprising youngsters is like a hobby of the elderlies. If I recall correctly, you barely showed a reaction."

"I might not looked like it, but I was fairly surprised, relatively speaking."

The green-haired woman glanced at her two grinning companions, and decided that it was old people's humor and gave up trying to understand it.

"I understand this is a matter that takes time, but we are relying on both of you and your associates." Tamamo concluded.

The green-haired woman glanced at Tamamo, like she wanted to say something. After a moment of hesitation, she opened her mouth.

"Queen of foxes, I want to ask you something."

"Hm? What is it?"

"Hero Luka...He truly have traveled to the other world?"

"Strictly speaking, he was forcefully pulled to the other side, but yes, he have."

"That is absolutely confirmed as the truth...Is that correct?"

"Hm, I used Moon Divination with my full power, and saw Hero Luka in an unfamiliar place, such as on a floating wooden ship, in the world where humans were capable of magic on the same level as mystic demons*."

The green-haired woman went quiet. Those two claims, if true, would be quite convincing circumstantial evidences: the first one for the fact that such ships did not exist in this world, the second one for the fact that humans had only started commonly practicing magic not long ago; humans that could use magic as powerful as mystic demons had yet to appear.

"...I see. We will give our best in this endeavor. It benefits us as well, after all."

"The monsters are gathering any information we can as well. We will be sending any clues we manage to find. All right, I will go now. There are still many places I have to visit."

Tamamo bowed once, and disappeared from the room, leaving only the Pope and the head of Alchemist Association.

"Miss Lucia, we can arrange transportation for you if you are in need of one."

"Thank you for your offer, but it is not necessary. I can travel with the same technique the queen of foxes used."

"I see, I see. How unfortunate. Here I thought it is a fine opportunity to take the experimental vehicle on a test run..."

Lucia blinked, unsure she heard correctly that the elderly man had intended to use her as a guinea pig.

"Hoho, it was a simple joke. Please travel at your convenience."

"...Then I will excuse myself."

As she prepared for the teleportation technique, Lucia let the free part of her mind wander, and her thought unfailingly drifted toward one person.

'How would it be if you were here? ...You probably would have said 'interesting' and immediately pulled out a pen and papers to draft equations for dimensional tearing. Would you have come up with five hypotheses for cross-dimensional travel within two weeks?'

Lucia put a stop to her own thinking.

'...It's useless to cling to a dead person's intellect. A genuine seeker of truth will only strive forward; that's what you would say, isn't it? Though it's a bit early, it's time to put to test what you once said to us.'

The image of a young woman in a white coat flashed into Lucia's head along with one of her mysterious smile. Lucia could not tell what the smile meant, but she knew she saw satisfaction in it.

'The dimensional barrier that is out of reach for even the Goddess: with the power of humans and monsters, we will overcome it. We shall move forward, and if we have to surpass god to do so, then so be it.'

*Mystic demon = Youma, from you(mystical, unearthly) + ma(demon, apparition), similar words include: Youko = mystic fox = Kitsune, Youkai = mystic apparition.

Ilias: "Try it if you think you can."

PBW: "Don't be a sore loser."

Ilias: "Are you perhaps misunderstanding something? I simply stated what is in my mind. If they think they can manage such a feat, then they are welcome to try; that was all I said."

PBW: "Of course they will manage it, because I plan so."

Ilias: "You are much more of a nuisance than I thought."