"The giant golem at the Imperial Palace has suddenly activated and is now rampaging. If it isn't stopped, it could break out into the city."
Upon hearing the report, Magic Technology Minister Degauss reacted instantly.
"Your Majesty, I must return to the palace at once to coordinate a response....Lord Jin Nidou, I entrust Her Majesty's safety to you. Please!"
He spoke with such urgency that he didn't even give Jin time to reply before he went racing down the stairs.
"Ah..."
Watching from the rooftop, Jin saw Minister Degauss mount the express messenger's horse to ride double back to the palace. Since the distance was short, the horse would be able to handle the strain of the extra weight for that duration.
"Jin-kun..."
The Empress looked toward him, her face clouded with anxiety. Jin pressed a hand to his forehead, cursing the fact that his bad premonition had come true.
"It happened exactly as you feared, Jin-kun. If we had only returned it to the basement immediately, perhaps this could have been avoided."
"...Now isn't the time for regrets, Your Majesty. We have to think about how to stop it."
"Yes, but..."
Leaving the dejected Empress aside for a moment, Jin issued instructions to Reiko.
"Reiko, prep the airship."
"Yes, Father. We are ready to depart at any moment."
"Good."
Hearing that, Jin turned back to the Empress.
"Your Majesty, let's go see for ourselves."
"Y-yes, let's."
"Your Majesty, I'm coming as well!"
Flora, the female knight serving as the Empress's guard, followed her aboard.
"Elsa, I'm leaving things here to you. Look after Hanna."
With that quick instruction, Jin released the airship's mooring lines.
The airship ascended into the sky.
"I've wanted to ride this airship for so long, but to think it would be under these circumstances... I can't say I'm enjoying the experience," the Empress murmured as she gazed at the ground below.
"Jin-dono, pray do not expose Her Majesty to any danger," Flora warned him sternly.
"I'm well aware. That giant golem won't be able to reach us at this altitude....Look, there it is."
In a matter of minutes, the airship reached the airspace above the Imperial Palace. They were currently hovering at about eighty meters—an altitude far beyond the reach of even the giant golem.
"...How could this happen?!"
Below them, seven Golias units lay scattered across the courtyard, their frames distorted and immobilized. The remaining three were malfunctioning, their movements erratic.
"...How on earth did it manage to break them like that?"
Jin tilted his head, puzzled by the strange nature of the damage. However, the answer revealed itself almost immediately. Another Golias collapsed before their eyes.
"That's... Craft Magic!"
The moment Jin saw the magic circle for Forming manifest, he realized the truth.
"Magic amplification, I see."
It was the effect of the magi-formula Jin had recently discovered.
Because the free ether concentration in the area was low, the giant golem would momentarily exhaust its mana, causing its movements to stall. However, the pause lasted only a few seconds—not nearly long enough for the remaining Golias units to disable it.
"This is disastrous... at this rate, it's going to smash through the outer wall and descend upon the city."
The Empress clutched her head in despair as she watched the hopeless battle below.
"..."
Jin had several potential plans, but each of them would involve damaging the giant golem to some degree.
He didn't want to destroy the artifact if he could avoid it. If it actually reached the city, he was prepared to pulverize it to protect the people, but as long as it was still contained in the courtyard, he wanted to find a cleaner solution.
While he deliberated, the final two Golias units were neutralized. There was nothing left to stand in the giant golem's way.
"Jin-kun, please... isn't there anything you can do? Surely you can stop it."
Hearing the Empress's pained plea, Jin turned to Reiko.
"Reiko, can you stop that thing?"
"Yes, Father. As long as it is your wish, I will stop it by any means necessary."
"Good. I only need about ten minutes. Hold it in place until then... and try not to break it too much."
"Understood."
Reiko climbed over the railing of the gondola. As she stood on the edge, Jin called out to her one last time.
"And Reiko? Don't get yourself hurt."
"Yes, Father—"
Her final response echoed from the open sky as she plummeted toward the ground.
"Jin-kun..."
The Empress watched with bated breath as Reiko descended toward the chaos below.
A fall from eighty meters could cause damage even to a body as resilient as Reiko's. To counteract this, the moment she jumped, she activated Gravity Magic to reduce her mass to one-hundredth of its normal value.
While her falling speed remained largely the same, the shock of landing is proportional to mass. By reducing her mass, the impact was also cut to a hundredth.
Reiko cushioned the remaining shock by slightly bending her knees upon landing. She immediately restored her mass to normal and sprinted around to face the giant golem.
<New obstacle detected. Self-defense level 2.>
The giant golem reacted instantly to her presence, halting its advance to square off against her.
(Father said not to break it... which means this is my only option.)
"Magi-Jammer... engage!"
Reiko activated her internal Magi-Jammer. The giant golem's movements froze instantly.
The Magi-Jammer worked by seizing control of the free ether within a specific radius, effectively sealing off an opponent's magic. Consequently, the giant golem's ether converter was cut off from the free ether it needed to generate mana.
<Insufficient free ether. Danger. Danger. Danger. Self-defense level 5. Executing last resort.>
Due to its massive size, the golem still possessed a significant internal reservoir of mana. Following its self-defense programming, it prepared to execute a final protocol.
The activation took time. While the giant golem appeared to be a motionless statue from the outside, the "last resort" was already churning within its internal systems.
Jin pulled an all-attribute magi-crystal from his pocket and began etching a magi-formula into it.
"...Vibration... generation... control... comparison... resonance..."
It was a stroke of luck that he had already mapped out the general magi-sequence for this device earlier.
"Jin-dono, just what are you doing—"
Flora saw Jin muttering to himself while clutching the magi-crystal and moved to intervene, but the Empress held up a hand to stop her.
"Shh. Flora, do not disturb him."
"B-but, Your Majesty..."
The Empress had sensed that Jin was focused on a way to resolve the crisis. The two women stood in silence, watching him work.
"...Write In!"
A brilliant magic circle flared into existence, and the magi-formula was pulled into the magi-crystal as if being absorbed.
"Done."
It had been roughly eight minutes since Reiko had jumped.
"Reiko, good work! Get clear of it!"
Even from the high altitude, Reiko's ears picked up her father's voice with perfect clarity.
She deactivated the Magi-Jammer and executed a massive jump to clear the area.
<Free ether restored. Threat cleared. Self-defense level 0. Aborting last resort.>
However—
<Malfunction. Malfunction. Malfunction. Failed to abort last resort.>
The giant golem's outer shell began to glow with a dull, red heat.