"In my hometown, they ring what's called the New Year's Eve bell on the final night of the year."
On the night of the 30th, inside the House on Hourai Island, Jin sat tucked into a sunken kotatsu, chatting with Eira Shiata, Kachea, Groma Tray, Sion, Marikka, Lordtoss, Ludmila, and Vita.
The group had split into two separate kotatsus: one for the guests from the Nord Federation and another for the rest.
Somewhat surprisingly, Eira and the other two students hadn't pried into Jin’s origins. It seemed that once they realized he was a Magi Craft Meister, they had come to see the pointlessness of digging into his personal business.
"The bell is struck a hundred and eight times," Jin explained. "Legend has it that the sound clears away the hundred and eight worldly desires that plague mankind."
"Hmm, how curious," Eira replied, her face flushed red. She seemed to have grown tipsy from the Japanese sake she’d been sipping.
Kachea was busy eating a mikan—a selectively bred variety of citran—that had been set atop the kotatsu. "This... 'mikan,' was it? It’s wonderful. The peel comes off so easily by hand."
Ordinary citran had thick skins that were a struggle to peel without tools, but the variety grown on Hourai Island could be peeled with ease. In that regard, they were very close to the fruit Jin remembered.
To bring the flavor closer to his memories as well, Topaz and the other 5-Color Maids had spent years searching for mutations like bud sports. Their efforts had literally come to fruition about two hundred years ago, and mikan had been a staple of Hourai Island ever much since. They had even experimented with crossing them with ramon, resulting in varieties that closely resembled yuzu and natsumikan.
"I’ve really taken a liking to this kotatsu," Eira remarked. "Maybe I’ll install tatami and a kotatsu in my own room... Oh, and some zabuton, too."
"Eira-san, if you do that, you’ll never crawl out of it all winter, will you?" Kachea teased.
Eira scratched the back of her head, unable to deny it.
"Well, to be fair, winter in Avalon is short and doesn't get very cold anyway," Groma pointed out. He was being perfectly logical, but Eira just gave him an exasperated look.
"You're always such a stick-in-the-mud..."
"H-Hey, be quiet! I know that!...At least a little," Groma shot back. It seemed he was aware that he lacked a certain sense of humor.
"You two certainly get along," Sion said with a soft smile, watching the exchange between Eira and Groma.
"Yes, they're the type who are so close they can't help but bicker," Kachea agreed with a nod.
Marikka watched them with a warm, affectionate gaze. "Weren't Saki-san and Goose-san much the same way?" she asked Jin.
Jin turned to her and nodded. "True. They were at each other's throats quite a bit in the beginning. Though I’d say Eira and Groma are even worse."
As they talked, the night of New Year's Eve deepened. Lordtoss and Ludmila huddled close together in their kotatsu, while Vita watched her brother and future sister-in-law with a happy, beaming smile.
Avalon never sleeps.
The magi-brain Arthur, responsible for the management and coordination of the entire facility, monitored every corner of the two-kilometer-wide megafloat. Jin had installed the unit four hundred years ago and given it its name.
At exactly 0:00:00.1 on January 1, 3900, local time, Arthur detected an anomaly.
《Anomaly detected. Massive mana reaction. Level 2 Alert issued.》
At 0:00:01, the Level 2 Alert blared across Avalon.
"What's happening!?"
"This is—!?"
An alert of this severity hadn't sounded in over a century. The executives of Avalon, led by Chief Administrator Tomax Bartman, were thrown into an immediate panic.
(A Level 2 Alert? Is there a foreign object inside the facility?)
However, Maquina III was the only one who correctly understood the nature of the alarm.
《Intruders detected. Intruders detected. Moving from Underground Warehouse No. 2 toward the surface.》
"They're close."
Underground Warehouse No. 2 was only about fifty meters from the administrative office. Tomax Bartman activated two security golems and hurried outside, followed by the executives who had been in the room.
"...Maquina-dono?"
They found Maquina III already waiting there.
"Rei, be careful. Something is coming," Maquina instructed Squire Rei. He spoke loudly, ensuring everyone present could hear him.
"Yes, Maquina-sama."
Rei placed her hand on the hilt of her sword and stared ahead, sensing "something" approaching from that direction. Currently, she was equipped in silver-white plate armor and carried a short sword.
Her glossy blue-silver hair spilled out from beneath the rim of her full-face helm. Her armor was a composite structure of Gigant Peeder carapace and 64 light silver, making the entire suit weigh a mere twenty kilograms—shockingly light for its level of protection.
Her short sword was crafted from magi-adamantite and featured a vibration sword function. As an automata, Rei’s combat prowess sat comfortably between Land and Reiko.
"W-What is that!?" someone cried out.
Emerging from Underground Warehouse No. 2 was a golem that looked like a mass of rock debris and scrap metal. It stood three meters tall and moved with a speed that belied its clunky, rugged appearance.
(A Gigas?)
Accessing the knowledge provided by Laojun, Maquina realized the golem was nearly identical to the combat models developed during the Great Magic War—the same kind used by the former Unifilar.
(If it's the same type as a Gigas, it will absorb mana. I can't afford any reckless attacks.)
A Gigas possessed the ability to drain mana from its surroundings to power itself. Its heart was a magic core; as long as that core remained intact, it was a relentless magical beast that would continue to regenerate indefinitely.
(Physical attacks are useless, and magical attacks will only feed it. Dealing with this safely inside Avalon's infrastructure won't be easy... How should I proceed?)
The Mentor, currently operating Maquina III, fell into deep thought.
"Stop that thing!" Tomax Bartman commanded his security golems.
"Wait! Don't!!"
Maquina III tried to intervene, but he was a split second too late. The two security golems lunged at the Pseudo-Gigas and—
"Wh-What in the world!?"
Their mana was instantly drained, and they collapsed to the ground. Because they were equipped with ether converters, they rebooted a few seconds later, but the result was clear.
"Tomax-dono, that thing is a close match for an ancient weapon called a Gigas. If it touches you, it will drain your mana," Maquina III warned.
"Wh-What!?" Tomax Bartman turned pale. "Th-Then how do we defeat it?"
"There are several methods, but all of them are problematic in this location," Maquina III replied.
The Mentor hadn't settled on a perfect solution yet. Generally, the way to kill a Gigas was to hit it with enough high-output power to be considered overkill. However, he didn't want to unleash that kind of destructive force right next to Avalon's vital facilities.
(I'll consult with Laojun,) the Mentor decided, reaching out to his superior.