I got into school for nothing - Chapter 302
I got into school for nothing (302)
Lesson 59. Trap - 2
In an instant, the sky turned crimson.
The Fairy Queen realized the anticipated attack had been accelerated and immediately flew out of her mansion, soaring into the sky.
"Prominence... are you truly looking for a fight?"
Whenever the wings on her back, formed from coalesced droplets of water, flapped, large dewdrops dispersed into the air, creating numerous vertices, which mana then connected to form several magic circles.
Alarm magic to alert the fairies of external invasion, protective barrier magic to shield the dimension of Fairytale, and finally, offensive magic.
"Silphy!"
—Your command is mine.
"The Ten Great Families are our enemies. I don't care about the after-effects; reveal your true body."
—The entire dimension will suffer for it, I suppose.
The Wind Spirit, despite the crisis, replied jokingly, then rapidly swelled, transforming into a colossal storm.
Though a Wind Spirit, its true essence was that of a phenomenon of nature, in its purest, most unadulterated form. It had shed half of its self, becoming nothing but a sharp, frigid gale, capable of tearing enemies to shreds.
"They're coming!"
The moment after Yura's sharp cry, a colossal crimson spear descended upon the protective barrier.
The spear was dozens of kilometers long and hundreds of meters thick, to the extent that its form would be clearly discernible even from beyond the atmosphere.
Yura herself was still unaware, but this was the second rare artifact symbolizing Prominence to appear, alongside a satellite that was suppressing Fairytale's mana and transforming the environment into one more favorable for Prominence to rampage.
It was as if the very foundations of the Prominence Family, which had accumulated immense wealth and power over countless ages, had been uprooted and wielded as a battering ram against Fairytale.
—I shall block it!
Silphy, transformed into a storm, surged forward to intercept the spear, but its limit was merely to prevent it from piercing the barrier directly.
Greatly weakening the colossal spear's power and buying time could certainly be considered an excellent feat, but...
"One of us must be annihilated for this to end. Whatever they intended to do by taking our fairies, I don't know...!"
They would never know in their wildest dreams that their grand ritual, their ultimate goal, had already been foiled, thanks to the intervention of her handsome and beloved son-in-law.
In the brief window of time bought by the Wind Spirit, Yura cast water magic — a torrential downpour — to greatly diminish the fiery heat of the crimson spear that was relentlessly trying to break through the protective barrier, biting her lip.
"What trick did they use? My mana isn't coming out properly... What are these creatures doing! Are you just going to let your Queen fight alone!"
—Pwoooh—.
Responding to her sharp shout was the sound of a war horn, signaling the advent of battle.
If Prominence was tearing up foundations, Fairytale would naturally respond in kind; the legendary artifact, Cornucopia, appeared and once again invigorated the suppressed mana of the fairy realm.
Cornucopia, in other words, the Horn of Abundance.
According to Greek mythology, it was crafted from the horn of Amalthea, Zeus's wet nurse, who appeared as a goat or a fairy. It was originally not a hornpipe but a hollow horn, a magical artifact that could endlessly dispense any food or fruit its owner desired.
However, that was only in Earth's myths; here in Fairytale, which possessed all mythical items related to fairies, it had been refitted and was now used as a hornpipe.
Food and fruit symbolized abundance, health, good fortune, vitality, and so on.
The hornpipe Cornucopia instantly converted these powers into pure vitality and mana, endlessly bestowing them upon the fairies.
As long as the battlefield was confined to Fairytale, the fairies could literally wield infinite mana.
'If I use it this time, it'll need about a thousand years to recharge...'
It was fortunate that the hornpipe's support hadn't been delayed.
Feeling her mana surge, Yura let out a sigh of relief and cast her gaze downward, where she saw fairies, ready for battle, each soaring into the sky.
And that wasn't all; there were the Iblis forces brought by the Demon King's daughter, golems brought by the Dragonoid, and even beast-kin who were formidable defenders of the forest, rivaling the fairies themselves.
While the enemies surely possessed strength befitting the Ten Great Families, Fairytale would never crumble without a fight.
"It truly is the kind of chaos that suits our dimension."
"Mom!"
Mira leaped into the sky.
Perhaps having cast a spell, she emitted an eerie, pale violet glow from her eyes as she lightly stepped on air, approaching Yura and calling out.
"Ban Yuwon is coming! He might already be clashing with those invaders outside the planet!"
"I thought you were worried about your mother, but it was your boyfriend, wasn't it? Raising a daughter is truly useless."
"When did you ever raise me...? This is no time for jokes. We need to gather the elite forces and head out right now—"
At that moment, another spectacular explosion of flames erupted.
The colossal spear, which had seemed to lose its fiery power due to the combined efforts of the Wind Spirit and water magic, nonetheless willingly plunged into the atmosphere despite Yura's and the protective barrier's resistance, oxidizing—and ultimately, obliterating the barrier completely.
In exchange for losing their planet-destroying weapon, Prominence had successfully opened the gates to Fairytale wide.
"That..."
Beyond the vanished protective barrier, the Crimson Spear fleet surged forward, accompanied by Prominence's colossal battleship, with a close-up view of a crimson moon in the background.
Yura realized that the moon was the entity suppressing Fairytale's mana and activating fire magic.
"We have to destroy that. Otherwise, we'll be at a disadvantage."
"When did that even appear...? Gravedigger, help us. You like him too, don't you!"
[Ah, no need for that.]
The Gravedigger of Purgatory said with a strangely amused voice.
Immediately afterward, the crimson moon began to cleave apart from its center, twisting as a thunderous "Wooong—" shook all of Fairytale.
"What... is that?"
It was pierced by the first strike, then rent asunder by the next.
Would it have been easier to understand if it had referred to a human, rather than a colossal celestial body?
Watching the moon crumble and oxidize, both Yura and Mira were momentarily speechless.
But as if to prove the moon's disappearance, the fairies' mana, amplified by the hornpipe, was felt to surge once again, all at once.
The crimson-stained sky returned to its azure hue, and the fire mana that had saturated the atmosphere vanished.
"The moon... it's broken? By whom?"
"Ban Yuwon, it's Ban Yuwon. Even if he couldn't slash it, the ability to make something disappear without a trace only belongs to my dear."
"Yes, I'm well aware that 'our dear' is exceptional, but,"
"Why is he *your* 'dear' too?!"
The fleet that was entering Fairytale was also felt to be in disarray.
Meanwhile, a single spaceship, appearing from a different direction than the enemy, unleashed destructive speed, piercing through the center of their fleet and entering Fairytale's atmosphere.
"Lilyth... It looks like the Rebellion crew is back!"
"I see them emerging from the spaceship. Yes, it's best to minimize the landing personnel. Let's go out too!"
A sudden assault, but the destruction of the crimson moon had ignited the beacon of counterattack.
Yura dispatched all warriors capable of flight, and they replenished their strength by wildly unleashing the unique Authority of the fairies with their activated mana.
"Let's go!"
"Shatie!"
"I'm ready! ...My kids are all ground troops, so they can't go into space with this."
Shatie, who had proudly unfurled her blood-red membrane wings and soared into the sky, cast a momentary look of pity at her fully armed ground troops who were looking up at their lord with exasperation.
"It's fine. In the end, it'll be the ground that ultimately stops them... Let's focus on weakening their forces as much as possible."
"Our Mira is truly brave. Aren't you scared?"
"Scared?"
More than a hundred colossal warships, each capable of carrying at least ten thousand people, and countless more vessels of half that size or less—it was an innumerable force.
Even facing an enemy composed of a dimension pirate fleet loyal to Prominence and elite warriors who commanded those pirates, Mira's eyes remained unwavering.
"They are the ones who should be afraid. No matter how exalted the name of the Ten Great Families, they can never defeat us in Fairytale."
Of course, they must have prepared extensively.
From the internal traitors and magic circles that even the master-mage fairies hadn't noticed until Ban Yuwon exposed them, to the colossal fiery spear that shattered the protective barrier, and even the crimson moon that suppressed the entire dimension's mana.
However, all the aforementioned elements were now gone, and any remaining means the enemy possessed would undoubtedly follow suit.
Though they were unaware.
All the weapons that had disappeared would, in turn, become their strength.
"It seems the first attack is ready."
"First attack? What do you mean— Ah."
On Fairytale, a chaotic land where lush greenery and mechanical civilization intertwined, a colossal pillar of ice erupted.
It bore a striking resemblance to the enemy's colossal spear that had pierced the protective barrier earlier.
"Is this a Changeling too?"
"Impossible. To transform an artifact imbued with a Constellation's Authority through Changeling, thousands of fairies would have to vomit blood and die."
Mira shook her head and explained.
"This is an echo."
The formless Authority left behind by Echo, the fairy who lost her life entangled in divine desire and jealousy.
Just as a loud sound in the mountains echoes, it perfectly mimicked the attack unleashed by the enemy.
And only when that mimicked attack was one meant to harm Fairytale, did Echo's Authority reveal its true form.
As fate would have it, because the attack contained the Authority of a Constellation, the echo was able to unleash an even more potent rebound force.
—Kwaaaaahhhhhhh—
The colossal ice spear, erupting from the ground, shot skyward like an arrow, hurtling directly toward the enemy forces who, upon seeing it, were protecting their fleet with all manner of barriers and fire shields.
—Kwaga-gagagagak!
Of course, the enemy was not to be underestimated, so it was difficult to say that the ice spear's destructive power was fully unleashed. Nevertheless, nearly 20% of the forces making up their fleet were utterly annihilated.
The protective barrier had been destroyed by the enemy's attack, but in return, 20% of the enemy's forces had been obliterated. One could say they had gained an advantage in this exchange of blows.
"...Seriously, wouldn't it have worked out somehow even without us?"
Shatie, her heart still startled by the Cornucopia, now shook her head in renewed surprise at the echo.
Mira snorted as if she had heard a ridiculous joke, then leaped back into the sky.
"If Ban Yuwon hadn't been here, Mother's head would have flown off without her even realizing it. Come on, he's waiting for us."
"Right, I also need to play my part properly, especially after all the help Ban Yuwon gave us."
Indeed, the power of the Ten Great Families was terrifying; the enemy's confused formation was rapidly stabilizing after the ice spear's attack.
Mira and Shatie, along with the fairies, charged toward the fleet, each revealing their respective abilities, preparing for battle.
"Can you see it?"
"I see it. Let's show these invaders a lesson."
From the enemy fleet, combat units began to emerge one after another.
Crimson Spear members, soldiers directly commanded by the Prominence Family, one of the Ten Great Families...
Even with forces capable of utterly destroying a dimension before them, the fairies showed no fear.
"Ah, should we switch that?"
"Let's switch it, let's switch it!"
It seemed they were intent on drawing in objects from other dimensions into Fairytale, which had already become a nucleus of chaos, to create even greater pandemonium.
If Ban Yuwon were to ever discover how the civilizations of other dimensions that formed Fairytale had been absorbed into this planet, then perhaps even this 'Happy Land' might not appear as anything but a graveyard to him.
—Insolent fairies! The time has come for you to pay the price for meddling in countless dimensions and acting so brazenly. Be grateful to be used in our grand endeavor, and willingly offer your lives!
The voice of a powerful individual, likely leading the Prominence legions, filled the air, laden with heavy Authority.
Did they already know the moon had been destroyed yet feign nonchalance, or was it a display of confidence that losing one or two artifacts would not hinder their grand endeavor?
Mira, aiming at the colossal battleship that likely carried the Prominence captain who had just spoken, conjured a cursed arrow onto her bowstring and then spoke.
"Has the Family Head also arrived?"
"Of course. If they're planning a ritual, the principal actor can't be absent, can they?"
Shatie, glancing at the grand magic circle that had already been warped by Ban Yuwon's will, grinned and injected Annihilation Magic into the insignia on the back of her hand.
"I'm very curious whose ritual this will turn out to be."
With the two of them leading the charge, the combat forces simultaneously unleashed magic and Authority, thus raising the curtain on war.
It was a little later that they noticed the appearance of a colossal robot.
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