“Everyone...?”
Jin was stunned to hear that every demon at the scene had perished.
“Yes. Everyone.”
Meanwhile, the heart rates of Raldo and Bafrosk—who had been administered recovery medicine just like Belialus—had managed to return to normal.
This meant that the only survivors were Belialus, Raldo, and Bafrosk. All three remained unconscious.
Jin, Elsa, Anne, Reiko, and Laojun all racked their brains, trying to fathom what had occurred.
“There was a massive flash, but it wasn't an explosion, was it?”
『Correct. No buildings have collapsed, and no fires have broken out.』
The silver ball had undoubtedly unleashed some form of attack magic. But what exactly was it?
『My Lord, based on the circumstances, one possibility has come to mind,』 Laojun reported.
“And that is?”
『The “Ether Stampede.”』
Ether Stampede.
It was said to be the ultimate trump card used by humanity three hundred years ago during the Great Magic War, when they were on the brink of defeat by the demon race. A horrific spell that had wiped out the majority of the demons but had also inflicted catastrophic collateral damage on the humans. It was the lost forbidden spell that Jin had been searching for in order to develop countermeasures.
“To think that Negadoll 001 could use it...”
『No, My Lord. It is possible that the original Ether Stampede was also the work of Negadoll 001.』
Pitting humans and demons against each other, only to slaughter them in massive numbers in the end—Jin realized that sounded exactly like something it would do.
『If that is the case, it explains why no detailed records of the Ether Stampede exist.』
“True. But I never imagined it would be used here...” Jin said, his shoulders slumping.
Reiko was the one to speak to him.
“Father, if you had been there, it is highly likely that you would have lost your life. I say this knowing it may be inappropriate, but I am truly glad you remained on Hourai Island.”
Laojun added his own assessment. 『My Lord, if you had perished, I suspect Reiko would have gone so far as to destroy the world. It is truly fortunate that things did not come to that...』
Beside Jin, Elsa shivered, though she wasn't cold.
“If it really was an Ether Stampede...”
Anne had been the closest witness.
“Anne, can you explain what happened?” Jin asked.
“Yes, Master. Though I only grasp the general outline.”
Anne began her explanation. Since Jin had been watching through Anne's eyes, he already had a rough understanding of the situation.
“It seems likely that a teleportation marker had been planted on one or more of the radicals.”
Whether it was a variant of a ‘Needle’ or an object hidden in a pocket was unknown, but the enemy had clearly used teleportation to strike. This matched what Laojun and Jin had theorized earlier.
Next was the nature of the Ether Stampede itself.
“Because I had a barrier deployed, I could not grasp all the details,” Anne prefaced before explaining what had happened to her. “First, the concentration of free ether in the surroundings became abnormally thin. Then, it felt as if my strength was being drained away, and it seems my systems entered a stand still.”
However, because her functions had ceased, she didn't know much more.
『Anne, what is the status of your mana tank?』 Laojun interjected with a question.
“Yes. My mana tank is... almost at zero.”
“What?”
In a land so rich in free ether, the situation where a mana tank’s supply would be exhausted should never occur. Yet it had. Which meant...
『My Lord, I have formulated a hypothesis regarding the physical phenomena of the Ether Stampede.』
Laojun had been the first to derive a theory from the data.
“I see....I’d like everyone to hear this. Can you send out an emergency summons?”
『Understood.』
Laojun issued an emergency call to the entire ‘Jin Family.’ Even Reinhard and his wife, the busiest of the lot, dropped their duties—delegating everything to the Secretary—and rushed over once they heard the reason.
Jin used the several dozen minutes it took for everyone to gather to move the Capricorn 1 closer to the scene and dispatched Nurse 1 and 2 to search for other survivors.
They found that while those within five hundred meters of the site were beyond help, there were survivors further out. There were nineteen of them. Of the Jest clan, which had numbered over a hundred, a staggering eighty percent had been killed.
The nineteen survivors were gathered together and administered recovery medicine. As the results of their medical examinations came in, Laojun’s hypothesis was further corroborated.
『The Ether Stampede, as the name implies, is a spell that causes free ether to behave abnormally.』
Before the assembled Jin Family—Jin, Elsa, Mine, Saki, Toa, Stearena, Vivienne, Reinhard, and Berche—Laojun began his explanation.
『Free ether consists of infinitesimal particles. A magi uses mental energy to capture and gather these particles. Under the influence of mental energy, free ether takes on a new form. This is what we call mana.』
He started with a review of free ether and mana. Seeing Mine and Vivienne tilt their heads in confusion, Laojun opted for a simpler analogy.
『Think of free ether as stone powder. When you add the “water” of mental energy and knead it, it becomes clay. That is mana.』
This seemed to click for them, so Laojun continued.
『Like clay, mana can be shaped into various forms through mental energy. Just as you can create tea bowls, plates, teapots, vases, or ornaments from clay, mana can be shaped into various attributes, such as fire, wind, water, or earth.』
Saki clearly liked the analogy, nodding along as she listened.
『Where it differs from clay is that mana can be converted into energy through mental energy.』
From here, things began to get difficult for Mine and Vivienne, who lacked a scientific background. Saki and Toa, however, had been studying hard—devouring the introductory texts Laojun had prepared and questioning Jin, Elsa, and Stearena—so they followed along reasonably well.
『I believe the Ether Stampede is the forced conversion of free ether itself into energy. During this process, mana is also decomposed back into free ether, which is likely fatal for any organism with a high dependency on it.』
Laojun speculated that Anne had stopped because the free ether had vanished, and since her internal mana tank was also empty, her mana had been stripped away as well.
『The conversion into energy is gradual, so no explosion occurs. It likely diffuses as light over a period of time. Even so, the process only takes a few seconds.』
Jin, Elsa, and Reinhard understood immediately. Saki, Toa, and Stearena followed the general idea. Berche, Vivienne, and Mine were only vaguely convinced.
Laojun concluded his explanation, stating it was merely a hypothesis.
“I see. However, we still don't know exactly how the Ether Stampede is triggered.”
It was highly likely that Negadoll 001 would use this spell in a future confrontation. To devise effective countermeasures, they needed to understand the mechanics.
『Regrettably, that remains unknown.』
“Can we develop a defense based on what we know now?”
Laojun admitted it would be difficult. 『Furthermore, despite the presence of both a barrier and a mana shield structure, the mana in the tank was affected.』
The barrier and shield had been insufficient.
“...It’s a difficult problem.”
While Jin could decompose mana, the act of actually reverting mana to free ether was currently beyond him. As things stood, even Reiko would be rendered immobile if she took the Ether Stampede head-on.
“Hey, Jin, if it's a power that can gather free ether to make mana, wouldn't the opposite be possible too?” Saki, who had been brooding in silence, offered her insight.
“That’s true...”
Though the method was a mystery, Jin hypothesized the use of mana lines with a specific wavelength and waveform. If the range could be limited by adjusting the intensity of these waves, it would explain why those in the courtyard were killed while those further away survived.
After all, the Ether Stampede of the Great Magic War had taken hundreds of thousands of lives, not just a few dozen.
“In any case, it’s still just a theory...”
Suddenly, Jin remembered No. 700672.
“When we asked him about Negadoll 001’s technology before, he never mentioned the Ether Stampede.”
“Does that mean No. 700672 doesn't know about it either?” Elsa asked.
It was hard to imagine he was hiding it. It was more likely that he simply didn't know.
『In that case, it implies the Ether Stampede is a spell Negadoll 001 developed independently.』
A crazed doll possessed of ancient super-technology.
『It sounds like a formidable opponent.』
“Yeah, absolutely.”
On Hourai Island, Jin renewed his resolve: Negadoll 001 could not be allowed to roam free.