Whoooosh~
"Controlling the power of imaginary numbers isn't easy. Void attribute magecraft, opening void space—that's not too hard. But handling the principles of imaginary numbers and utilizing that power is a challenging problem for mages."
"Void space itself, being imaginary, follows such laws... right? Humans can't maintain their ego in void space... but if you survive, you can wield the power of a recorded universe, a world with different rules from reality..."
In a dark room, Shiki was teaching Sakura.
A goddess, a vessel that could become a Beast or even the vessel of a goddess of destruction. A girl who made contracts with human evil, brimming with infinite potential.
If Rin is a genius, then Sakura is a natural disaster. If her latent power awakens, she could be a calamity like Sajou Manaka or Ryougi Shiki.
Wheee~
"What's this, wasn't it rune magecraft time?"
"Oh, has it been that long? Sakura learns so well, you see. Soon, she might even be able to stay in void space alone? Since Kama, a girl with compatible wavelengths, is helping out."
"Well, based on potential alone, she's definitely a massive disaster. Anyway, it's my turn now."
"Then, good luck~"
"Good work."
As Skadi entered, Shiki left the room.
Since Sakura was a girl Dumpty specially protected, she received a lot of attention from other Servants, especially in teaching. With Kama sharing the same body, a Root connector like Shiki, and others—Sakura had many suitable mentors.
"Using primal runes to enhance shadow and void magecraft... That's not ordinary. With your innate abilities, it should be possible."
"Really?"
"Yes. You have a vessel capable of containing human evil. Perhaps, you could be said to be Master's successor."
"Is Dumpty retiring?"
"Someday, yes. He says he wants to live out a human lifespan, but if he dies, his soul probably won't disappear and will stay with us. And we can't have him saving the world forever. At this point, where he's already done enough and keeps going, we're just baffled. In that sense, I wish he'd just retire."
"I see... hearing about Dumpty's past, that makes sense."
"Heh... Anyway, let's start the lesson now."
Sakura studied while taking Skadi's primal rune class.
========================
"Aah~ I'm tired."
As usual, I did a bit of training and now I'm going to eat. I'd like to learn swordsmanship from Kojiro, but I have no talent for it at all... Something about swinging, I'm not good at cutting, just no knack for it.
That's a pity, huh? This time, I'm also learning how to shoot a gun from Nobunaga. It's a matchlock, but... Nobunaga supplies the matchlocks, and the bullets auto-reload infinitely. Plus, it doesn't take as long to reload as an original matchlock.
In a few days, we're going to America for the next Singularity. London was restored in less than an hour due to Tamamo's incident, so...
This time, we're going to America! Now I can show how much I've grown!
But before that~ I should head to Chocolamisu's garden to replenish my sugar~
"Ah, Ritsuka."
"Sakura, finished studying?"
"Yes!"
Walking down the hall, I run into Sakura coming out of her room. She looks a bit tired, but somehow relieved. Must be going smoothly.
I head to the cafeteria while chatting with Sakura.
"You learned primal runes? Wow..."
"Just one so far."
Primal runes. I don't know the details, but a while ago, I saw Brynhildr go berserk when she saw Boudica talking with Siegfried in the cafeteria, and she used rune magecraft to turn the place into a freezer.
Seeing that, it seems incredible. And you're learning that. I have no talent for magecraft, so I can barely learn the strange techniques Amakusa uses.
Though our specialized fields are different, I'm a bit jealous of Sakura.
She's actually younger than me, yet overflowing with talent, and her current figure is great too. A perfect all-rounder, a beauty herself. And on top of that, she's this amazing...
I don't feel inferiority, but I am a little envious.
If Dumpty is like a senior or teacher, then Sakura feels more like a rival, I guess?
"I'm jealous of you, Ritsuka! I'm no good with physical stuff... I envy how you fight powerfully and coolly!"
"Ehh~ I've been called a gorilla before..."
"By who?"
"By X."
"As expected, should I beat her up?"
"You shouldn't beat her up!? You've been influenced by Dumpty's Servants..."
"Hehe."
Sometimes she's scary like this...
"By the way, I heard Black Jeanne is weak, so why do you mainly use her?"
"Ah, this? It's cool, right? Like Wolverine."
"... What's Wolverine?"
"Ah, you don't know yet... Being a 1990s kid..."
Wolverine, I mean, the X-Men movies came out later, right? Honestly, I only learned about Marvel comics after watching the movies... Sakura doesn't know either.
That's a shame. Not knowing romance, the dreams!
Still, we talked about various things and entered the cafeteria. And in the cafeteria... I saw a slightly surprising sight.
"Mash...?"
"Ah, is that Ritsuka?"
"It's Dumpty's Mash... More importantly, what's with that outfit...!?"
"Does it not suit me? I wore it thinking Senpai would like it."
"... I honestly like it, but."
"Mash, you're bold... I'll learn from you!"
"No no, you shouldn't learn from that!? Don't forget Sakura is 5 years old!"
"I'm an adult now, so it's fine!"
I'm not sure if this is okay, but... Dumpty will handle it.
"Mash, it's bad for the kids' emotional development!"
Will he... handle it?
"Do you dislike it?"
"No no, it's not that... I just don't want other guys to see you like this either..."
"Senpai...♡"
Ugh, that's sticky.
Whoooosh...
A sandy wind, a dusty wind blows across the wilderness.
"What do you plan to do, Sorcerer."
A man carving wood to make some tool. Geronimo.
A Native American hero and sorcerer, he was the leader of a resistance fighting against the Celtic army and the U.S. military. He asked the woman beside him.
"What to do... The star-gazers will come. The foolish imperialists, the foolish Celtic barbarians—they'll all be defeated in the end. They're no different from stupid beasts."
"Then what will you do? Will you finally step forward?"
"Ah, I'll step forward... I'll turn it into a domain of death."
Thud... thud...
The sorcerer rises, dangling parts of corpses all over his body.
In the bloody wind of a mythic war, chaos was just beginning.
"So what if they're strong... In the end, they're just dead Heroic Spirits. It has no meaning."