Magic Power surged toward the lamb like a tide, making Rorschach feel as if he were facing a head-on gale. He decided to walk to the front of the stage but was stopped by Unuk.
"The situation is getting out of control. There's something wrong with the dancers on stage and the people holding the anointing oil. I'm being watched."
Unuk frowned. He swept back his long, loose hair and glanced around. Sure enough, several pairs of eyes immediately darted away. "You need to find a way to get your companion off the stage. Don't make any big movements that could cause a commotion. I'll contact the garrison and stand guard in case these crazed people suddenly attack us."
Rorschach pushed his way to the front of the stage and gave the pale-faced Tassia a meaningful look. Tassia understood immediately and nodded.
Rorschach then cast a spell with the smallest possible hand gestures, hitting a support beam of the stage with a Decomposition Skill. A section of the stage instantly collapsed. Just as Rorschach had calculated, Tassia was right on the collapsing part and deftly rolled down the slanted wooden planks. Rorschach activated his Mage's Hand to quickly catch her and stop her from rolling further, pushing her toward him.
The surge of Magic Power in the square made it harder for Rorschach to control his Mage's Hand. He seemed to have used a bit too much force, causing Tassia to stumble into his arms. Tassia gritted her teeth and whispered, "Senior, how could you think of making me *roll* down?"
Rorschach grabbed Tassia's hand. "You can thank me later. Let's go meet up with Mr. Ah Le and Singrev."
"Does this sound like I'm thanking you?" Tassia retorted. Recalling her ordeal and the surging Magic Power, she added as a warning, "I sense an aura similar to the rituals held by the Holy Mother Order."
Rorschach nodded. "Got it. Keep up."
The other dancers seemed completely oblivious to the collapsed stage and the missing person. The reveling crowd took the opportunity to continue pressing toward the giant lamb, with more and more people stepping onto the ruins of the stage.
Mr. Ah Le, being worldly and experienced, noticed something strange about the crowd and quickly covered his mouth and nose with a handkerchief. Singrev's Dwarven resistance to toxins seemed to be at play again, as he was the only one completely unaffected by the resonant magical wind and smoke. Ah Le and Singrev struggled through the crowd to find Rorschach and Tassia. Rorschach nodded to Wizard Unuk, who had been watching them the whole time. Unuk immediately pulled out a Scroll and activated it. A flash of light shot into the sky and exploded into a red ball of light.
'Isn't that just a firework?' Rorschach had thought the Town Mage's Scroll would be able to freeze everyone in the square or something similar. He didn't expect him to just set off a magical firecracker. The unknowing revelers saw the ball of light and assumed it was part of the show, some even cheering.
"Wizard Unuk, the Town Mage of Andorrella."
"My companions: Mr. Ah Le, the merchant; Singrev, the Warrior; and Tassia, the Apprentice."
"Let's go. Move toward the edge of the square."
While clearing a path, Unuk explained to the others, "It seems a large-scale sacrificial ritual is underway. We'd better get out of here before whatever god is behind this responds. That flare Magic was a warning signal to the Empire's garrison. Red is the highest-level alert I can issue with my authority. The Empire Army and its Military Mages will intervene."
However, when they reached the edge of the square, all the entrances were choked with people flooding in. If someone fell, others would simply trample over them, all while wearing blissful, yearning smiles. They had clearly entered a state of delirium, unable to feel pain.
Looking back, they saw a vat of anointing oil thrown directly onto the giant lamb and the dancers at the center. A two-meter-tall torch fell, igniting the oil and eliciting a wave of cheers. Amidst the raging inferno, the dancers continued their joyous dance, their leaping figures rapidly shrinking in the flames.
"Aren't you a Magic Apprentice? Something is obviously wrong, why are you just frozen there?"
"I have an affinity for Natural Spells, which means I'm also the most affected in ritual environments like those of the Holy Mother Order! For a moment, I could feel a great will turn its gaze upon the lamb, and also upon..."
Tassia was cut off by another wave of cheers. The firelight illuminated her face, which was frighteningly pale.
"Dammit, the ritual has begun!"
...
The central fortress of Andorrella sat on the highest hill, but the hill's interior had now been completely hollowed out. A tall steel tower rose from the very center of the fortress, beneath which lay a complex network of pipelines and a massive metal sphere. The base supporting the sphere was, surprisingly, a collection of rotors and the Steam Engines that drove them.
Many workers bustled about within this enormous cavity, wearing robes of coarse linen that covered their entire bodies, inlaid with extremely fine, soft copper wires.
The only ones without protective gear were two men in the center. The elder of the two stood with his hands behind his back, supervising everyone in the facility, while the younger man held a thick stack of documents, constantly flipping through and examining them.
"What's the status of the equipment calibration?" asked the man with his hands behind his back. He had a meticulously groomed handlebar mustache, and when he spoke in his deep, serious voice, the mustache didn't even twitch.
"The frequencies of the twelve units still can't be perfectly synchronized, but there's no problem with a short-term startup."
"Is there enough fuel?"
"The Black Forest Mine Area delivered a batch of refined coal the day before yesterday."
"Then load the fuel. Prepare for the next startup to collect data."
"Sir, shouldn't we perform some more maintenance? After all, these units were secretly procured from Valois. If they break, we can't just ask their craftsmen to come over..."
The man with the handlebar mustache grew angry at this. He roughly cut off his subordinate, "I won't concern myself with such things! You solve it!"
With a GRIND of gears, an elevator descended, bringing down a messenger. He quickly gave the man with the handlebar mustache a military salute. "Reporting, sir! Abnormal Magic fluctuations in the Andorrella urban area! A warning signal has been detected in the city square!"
"A warning? From the Town Mage?"
"Yes, sir! This is the signal collected from seven monitoring stations within the city. There's a large-scale fluctuation in Magic Power."
The man with the mustache took the report. "It's the Harvest Festival right now... Is this Mars? Or Ceres?" He first fell into deep thought, then a moment later, a wide, excited smile spread across his face. "Good! Good! Good!"
After saying "good" three times, the man walked over to the large metal sphere. "I don't care which god is causing trouble! This is the perfect opportunity for our test! Quick! Hurry up! Prepare to initiate the experiment!"
The man didn't forget to turn and order the messenger, "Report this: An unknown Underground Sect is suspected of holding a large, unauthorized ritual near our garrison's position. The ritual's center is the city square. Requesting deployment of special defense forces to suppress it. My unit will commence Experiment 302 to assist in terminating the illegal ritual."
"Yes, sir!" The messenger's pen flew across his small notebook as he took shorthand.
The three men then left the scene one after another. The vast, complex system activated. Steam vented from the fortress, and a deafening roar erupted within the underground space. The metal sphere began to rotate slowly, arcs of electricity lighting up its surface and tracing patterns of geometric shapes.
The metal sphere spun faster and faster, its acceleration accompanied by a heart-pounding electrical hum. The patterns formed by the electricity blurred until they were no longer visible, and the entire sphere began to glow.
If Rorschach were here, he would have been utterly astonished—this very un-magical space was furiously generating electricity, and through the central apparatus with the metal sphere at its core, it was ceaselessly gushing forth Magic Power.
"Energy storage complete. Entering excitation state. Mode: Low-wave interference..."
A torrent of Magic Energy shot skyward. Having gathered sufficient energy density and flux, it actually became visible, forming a pillar of light that rose from the fortress, pierced the ominous night, and stabbed straight into the clouds.
"Hahaha! No matter how many times I see it, I still find it magnificent!" Inside the safe control room, the man with the handlebar mustache couldn't stop himself from laughing heartily.
"It is the crystallization of the Empire's greatest wisdom, and also your great achievement, Teacher."
"What am I alone within the Empire? It is the Empire's magical technology that is number one in the world!"