The silence brought on by the Arm-Spitting One's words lasted only a moment.
[What an absurd thing to say, Arm-Spitting One. You don't seriously think anyone would believe that, do you?]
The Burned Vegetation soon began openly displaying hostility toward the Arm-Spitting One.
No matter how necessary it might be to protect the Star Eater, the Arm-Spitting One's claim was simply too ridiculous.
Every Divine blood gathered here was wearing the same deep frown.
And so—
The Burned Vegetation and the other Divine blood took up the posture of preparing for battle, but—
[......It seems I've been underestimated.]
The Arm-Spitting One itself remained calm.
[I did not underestimate you. I merely stated the facts.]
[I warn you, Arm-Spitting One. Such pathetic lies do nothing but make me angry.]
The Burned Vegetation issued its warning.
[It is only natural that you would not believe me. I didn't believe it at first either.]
[......What?]
Even after being warned, the Arm-Spitting One still stayed utterly composed, and in the end the Burned Vegetation could only stare in bafflement as it asked back,
[......Don't tell me the Star Eater really can divide out divinity?]
[Yes. You may think it a joke, but it is not.]
[You're saying that's truly the truth?]
[Yes.]
At those words, spoken with a leisurely nod while hundreds of tendrils gently writhed, the Burned Vegetation turned to look at the Divine blood with it.
Every last one of them wore doubtful expressions.
But the Burned Vegetation's dazed look lasted only a moment before it quickly came back to its senses.
[Wait. Did you see it yourself?]
[No. I did not.]
[......? If you didn't see it yourself, then how can you be so sure?]
When the Burned Vegetation asked in disbelief, the Arm-Spitting One replied.
[Because I heard it from the One Who Soars High.]
[The One Who Soars High—]
[That one, then. One of the followers of the One Who Stares into the Abyss—]
[What exactly did it tell you?]
Soon enough, the Arm-Spitting One calmly relayed the story it had heard from the One Who Soars High.
And after a little time had passed—
[In other words, there is no reason to carry out the Rotten Mouth's request just for the sake of entering a faction.]
When the Arm-Spitting One finished speaking, a low murmur began to spread among the Divine blood.
Its words were certainly true.
If the Star Eater really could strip away the abilities of Divine blood, then merely entering a faction ceased to be the issue.
And so—
The murmuring lasted only a moment.
[Hmph. Even so, these are still only words, aren't they?]
The Burned Vegetation snapped back to attention once again and answered.
[The One Who Soars High has no reason to lie.]
[Why not? The One Who Soars High is one of the loyal servants of the One Who Stares into the Abyss.]
[That does not mean it has any reason to lie to me.]
At the Arm-Spitting One's answer, the Burned Vegetation fell silent for a moment.
Because the more it thought about it, the more that logic was not wrong.
The Arm-Spitting One standing before it belonged to the same side, after all.
[......There is still the possibility that you are the one lying.]
[Are you asking me that? You could simply ask the Piercing Eye.]
At that, the Burned Vegetation turned its gaze and looked at the Piercing Eye that had come with it.
It was a Divine blood that possessed the ability to discern the true intent of others.
In response, the Piercing Eye—which had been staring at the Arm-Spitting One with hundreds of eyes, without the slightest deviation—
[......It is not lying.]
—slowly opened its mouth.
With an expression that looked somewhat confused.
[What......?]
At that unexpected answer, the Burned Vegetation's mouth fell open.
It could not understand it at all.
But clutching at its dizzy head with one hand, it thought,
'Don't tell me the Star Eater really has some ability that absurd?'
Through the Piercing Eye, it had confirmed that the Arm-Spitting One's words were not lies, and yet it still found them difficult to believe.
Because that ability itself was absurd from the outset.
In the end, after agonizing over it for quite some time, the Burned Vegetation—
[......To be honest, I still find your words hard to believe.]
[Is that so?]
[Yes. You may simply have accepted a lie as truth yourself. So we will verify whether your words are correct.]
—came to that decision.
"......You're saying you found a means that can be used besides magic?"
[Well, strictly speaking, it's closer to the realm of 'inference' than 'finding it.']
Well, it's not as if I can directly use your power myself, after all—Heinkel added.
She waved a hand at Penia and Alon, who had come to the library, as if telling them to sit down first.
Then, after briefly organizing her thoughts, she began to speak.
[Let me say this first: what I'm about to tell you is only an inference.]
"......I'm listening."
[Mm.]
Heinkel hesitated for a moment, then said,
[As you know, we've already succeeded in replacing the means of reciting incantation phrases with 'magic,' right? You've even used it in actual combat.]
"That's right."
[In other words, it has already been proven that it's possible to use incantation phrases through a different means. What matters now is the counterproof that what is required to recite an incantation phrase is not 'pronunciation,' but will itself.]
Heinkel looked straight into Alon's eyes.
[And yet even so, you failed to recite incantation phrases through will alone. Why do you think that is?]
Alon thought for a moment, then shook his head.
"To be honest, I can't get a sense of it."
[Why not?]
"If there were at least some kind of result, I could keep researching it little by little from there, but right now I've never succeeded even once."
Ever since succeeding in reciting incantation phrases through magic, Alon had constantly worked together with Penia to try reciting them through will alone.
But unlike with magic, Alon had never succeeded even once through will.
Meaning he had not even found the starting point in the first place.
At Alon's skeptical answer, Heinkel said,
[To start with the conclusion, I do not think your approach is wrong.]
"......You don't?"
[No. The problem is simply that the 'advance preparation' hasn't been done.]
"Advance preparation......?"
Heinkel nodded.
[Alon, what do you think about when you recite an incantation phrase?]
"......What do I think about?"
[Yes.]
The question came so suddenly that Alon started to think—
[That's enough. You don't have to tell me.]
"Pardon?"
[That was answer enough.]
A puzzled look appeared on Alon's face.
Seeing that expression, Heinkel elaborated.
[All right, I'll give you the conclusion first. The reason you fail to recite incantation phrases through will is most likely because of your ignorance.]
"My ignorance?"
[Even so, don't take that too badly. To begin with, this is a situation where something unnecessary for you has suddenly become necessary.]
As if preparing to launch into a long explanation, she cleared her throat.
[From everything I've heard from you so far—you are special. You can use spells without obtaining the mental images other True Mages need, and you can also activate incantation phrases without learning them, simply by speaking them. That is clearly a blessing. But—]
—she murmured in a low voice.
[—right now, that blessing is poison to you.]
"......Poison?"
[Yes. Because it means you've been using magic far too easily.]
At Heinkel's words, Alon only had time to feel puzzled for a moment.
Beside him, Penia murmured as if she had realized something.
"......A lack of motivation?"
[Correct.]
Heinkel nodded.
[Fundamentally, formulas are required to use magic. In the same way, incantation phrases and spells also have formulas, and there are principles for how they activate and how they function. But you—]
"......Can use incantation phrases and spells just by reciting them. So in order to use 'will' as the means, I lack the motivation for it, and that makes it difficult?"
[Exactly. That's it. To put it simply, the blessing you possess has come back around as poison.]
At least under the current circumstances, anyway—Heinkel added.
[Of course, this is only an inference. But if it is clear that incantation phrases activate even when only ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) intent is conveyed, then this is the only reason I can see for why you cannot use magic through will.]
"Then in order to use will as the means—"
[You'll have to study incantation phrases and spells from the ground up. The amount is a little murderous, though.]
She offered Alon a single method.
Right after hearing that explanation, Alon did not deliberate for very long.
"......I'll give it a try."
[Good decision. In truth, if all you want is to test whether it can be used through will, it probably won't require investing that much time, so you don't need to feel too burdened by it.]
While Alon was nodding—
[Ah.]
Heinkel let out a low exclamation, as if something had just occurred to her.
[And if possible, could you grant me one favor?]
"What favor?"
[I heard it through the grapevine, but that cat you keep with you......]
"......You mean Blackie?"
[Yes, that one. I heard it can transform into Divine blood—could you show me that once?]
"......It's not especially difficult, but why all of a sudden......?"
[There's no special reason. Just pure curiosity. To begin with, I was curious about what Divine blood even are. Would that be a problem?]
Alon shook his head.
"No. As I said, it's not especially difficult. But it may be a little hard to show you here. Its size gets rather large, after all."
[Then go outside and show me.]
"All right."
Soon, the group left the library and headed outside the Central Mage Tower, and before long they arrived at a wide open space.
After checking once that Heinkel was watching from the edge of the Central Mage Tower, Alon called out,
"Blackie."
[Qyu?]
"I'm asking you."
He called to Blackie.
And then—
[Qyu-!]
With a cute cry, Blackie leapt down to the ground, and its body began to transform in an instant.
The enormous legs beginning to rise from its back swiftly grew larger, lifting Blackie's body up into the sky in an instant.
And the body raised aloft rapidly swelled in size, while from that place like a dark abyss, dozens of eyes began to emerge.
And at last, the one called the disaster of Colony—the Poison-Eater—revealed itself.
[Oh.]
The moment Heinkel's admiring exclamation was heard—
In the forest on the opposite side of the Central Mage Tower, the Divine blood that had located the Star Eater's position through the Piercing Eye, and then, through the Arm-Spitting One's ability, torn open an abyss-like black hole toward the place where Alon was—
[Th-that is—]
[The Poison-Eater?]
[......No, it is not the Poison-Eater. Didn't you see? That small cat the Star Eater had with it transformed into that form.]
[And even that ability—it is weak, certainly, but it is definitely the Poison-Eater's.]
[Then that means—]
—as they looked at Blackie's form—
[—the Star Eater's power...... is real?]
—were beginning to fall into a very strange misunderstanding....

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