Read Novel Full Vol 5 Chapter 3 Part 3
Vol 5 Chapter 3 Part 3
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Part 3
The time goes back a bit, and it is in the courtyard of the castle.
“Where did Luna go?”
Lexia peeks out from behind the scenery and looks around.
After that, they managed to save the day with another magic trick, and the circus was a great success, but the party was still on hold because the main star, Luna, was missing.
The audience looked confused as well, waiting for the party to continue.
Lexia and the others, who had attracted too much attention as a new and up-and-coming circus troupe, had changed into their usual clothes and waited out of sight for a while.
“Luna-san still hasn’t come back after being taken away by Douglas-san…”
“Yes… I have a bad feeling about this…”
At that moment, the Master of Ceremonies ran out of the castle, looking very worried.
“E-Everyone, the ceremony is canceled!”
“Huh?!”
“I’m terribly sorry, but there’s a small problem in the royal palace… For now, you should all go home for today!”
The sudden turn of events caused a stir, and confusion spread.
Selene also raised her eyebrows.
“The celebration has been canceled? What in the world is going on?”
Then, one of the guests who had been inside the castle ran out into the courtyard.
“Hey, did you hear? It seems that the princess was a fake!”
“Huh?!”
“I heard the soldiers talking about it earlier. It seems that the fake princess tried to poison the king and take over the country!”
“””Eeeehhhh?!”””
Lexia and the others were more surprised than anyone else.
“What is this? Luna would never do such a thing!”
“That’s right! It’s definitely impossible!”
The guests who had just seen Luna in her princess costume were also stunned.
“No way, she’s so cute…”
“Not only was she a fake, but I can’t believe she had such a terrible plan…”
“I heard that the fake princess was locked in the underground prison. From now on, the king’s younger brother, Douglas, will be in charge of government affairs on behalf of Farouk, who has become a puppet of the fake princess.”
“Douglas-sama? I’ve heard rumors that he’s quite ambitious, but I wonder if it will be okay…”
“Yes, I hope he doesn’t go too far once he’s in power…”
The faces of the nobles darkened with fear.
Selene pursed her lips.
“Douglas, he finally started to move…!”
“You said Luna was locked in the underground prison! Let’s go rescue her right now!”
“Yes!”
But before Lexia and the others could move, a figure appeared on the balcony.
“Th-That’s…!”
“That’s Douglas…!”
“What in the world is he doing…!”
As Lexia and the crowd watched, Douglas broke into a maniacal grin.
“Listen up, everyone! From now on, I will be the true king who rules this country─no, this world! I give you the honor of witnessing this historic moment─let your eyes burn with the sight of everything in this world bowing to my power!”
“Wha…?”
Douglas pulled a black glowing key from the air.
He raised the key high into the air and spoke in a cracked voice.
“Now awake, the ultimate ancient weapon that will burn the world to the ground──Machine Soldier!”
“An-Ancient weapon?!”
At the same time as Selene’s voice rang out, a sudden rumbling echoed through the ground as if in response to Douglas’ call.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
The ground shook violently, and the crowd screamed.
“Kyaaa!
“I-is it an earthquake…?”
As the spectators lay down, Lexia suddenly pointed behind the castle.
“L-look at that!”
The stone altar behind the castle crumbled.
And out of the crumbling altar emerged a stone giant.
“Vuoooooooooo!”
“Wha──”
It was a terrifying monster that no one had ever seen before.
Its eyes shone so brightly that they seemed to cover the entire castle. A black pattern appeared on its body, which was rough and rough like stone, and it looked terrifying.
It had a throne on its thick chest that looked like it was carved out of stone, and the most bizarre thing of all was the huge cannon barrel that was carved underneath it.
The imposing figure that overwhelmed those who saw it caused the people around it to scream.
“W-what is that thing…?”
“A-a stone giant…?”
Lexia and the others involuntarily lowered their voices as well.
“W-what is that…?”
The altar collapsed, and the stone giant appeared…!”
Selene stepped back with a pale face.
“No way… Could it be that the ancient weapon really exists…?”
“Ancient weapon?!”
“T-that reminds me, Douglas said something like that earlier…!”
Selene tells the surprised Lexia and the others with a serious expression.
“There is a legend in the kingdom of Rastel that an ancient weapon is hidden there. It is a weapon of tremendous power, and it is said that it can destroy even distant lands with an attack called the Lightning Cannon…!”
“Huh?!”
“I-is that the ancient weapon?!”
Selene bit her trembling lips.
“I don’t want to believe it, but it’s the only explanation…! I thought it was a fairytale, but I never imagined it really existed… And Douglas has it…?”
Douglas laughed out loud and held up the key.
“Now, machine soldier, you have awakened from your long slumber! I am your master, so come and greet me on my throne!”
“Vuoooooooooo!”
The machine soldier bent down with a creaking sound.
It scooped Douglas into its palm and carried him to the stone cave above the main cannon.
Douglas sat on a throne-like stone seat and looked out over the distant land.
“Haha, hahahaha! All right, I will rule this world with fear! First, I’ll burn everything to the ground, no matter where it is, and let the world know my power!”
“Vuooooooooo…!”
In an instant, a black vein-like light appeared all over the ancient weapon.
The sinister light pulsed eerily as it gathered in the main cannon.
“Is that… Could it be that it’s about to fire the lightning cannon?”
“No, we have to stop it!”
“Yes! If something like that gets out of control, we’ll be in danger as well, so everyone please move away immediately!”
Tito’s scream brought the people back to their senses, and they fled in an avalanche.
Lexia ran to Storm Bear and spoke to him, his fur standing on end.
“Please, take as many people as you can and run! Leave the royal capital and run as far away as you can!”
“Guoooooo!”
Storm Bear picked up the people who had collapsed and threw them on his back, then ran out of the castle.
“Come on, let’s go! We’re going to stop Douglas for sure!”
Lexia and the others jumped into the castle against the tide of people running away.
＊＊＊
“Get out of the castle quickly! Get as far away as you can!”
Luna, who had escaped from the underground prison, shouted at the confused people as she made her way to Douglas.
Amidst the screams, she spotted the stone giant through the window.
“Damn, so that’s the ancient weapon…! Such a huge size…!”
She ran through the castle and climbed up the tower.
She kicks in the broken window and jumps onto the roof.
She looks up at Douglas sitting on the machine soldier’s chest and shouts.
“This is as far as you go, Douglas!”
Douglas’ eyebrows shoot up as he notices Luna.
“Huh? You got away from that thing? How in the world did you do that… Well, never mind. With the ancient weapon in my hands, there’s no one who can stand against me.”
“I won’t let you do whatever you want!”
Luna takes aim at Douglas and prepares her string──
“Ooooooooooo…!
The machine soldier raised his hand towards Luna.
A black beam of light shot out of his fingertips.
“Kuh!?”
Swosh──BANG!
Immediately after rolling off the roof to avoid it, the place where Luna was standing was violently shattered, and the tower was half destroyed.
“W-what a power…!”
The ray of light chased after Luna.
“Hahaha, run, run! You’ll be reduced to ashes!”
“Kuh! Shackle!”
Luna let go of her string as she ran, aiming for the machine soldier’s finger.
Swing, swing, swing!
“Hah!”
When Luna pulled her arm back, the string wrapped around it should have torn the machine soldier’s finger off, but it didn’t cause any damage at all.
On the contrary, the machine soldier simply shook off the string with a single flick of its arm.
“Ooooooooooo!”
“Wha…!? No way── Spiral!”
Luna immediately moved on to her next attack.
The bundle of strings twirled furiously and hit the machine soldier directly.
However, the technique that could easily shatter even a mithril boar only managed to scratch the surface slightly.
“The string doesn’t work…? I see, that armor is not just stone, but a special material made with ancient technology…! Kuh!?”
Seeing the machine soldier’s fingertips glow black, Luna jumped back.
Zugagagagaga!
A black beam of light chased after Luna, tearing through the roof as it closed in.
The wall collapsed under the intense barrage of fire, and the area was filled with smoke.
“What a precise attack…!”
The ray was chasing its prey, and even with Luna’s physical abilities, she could only try to dodge it.
Swing!
“!”
She threw herself out of the way just in time to avoid the ray that was about to pierce her head.
She tried to get up quickly, but her feet were caught in the debris.
“Oh no…!”
The black figure appeared behind the cloud of dust as Luna’s movements stopped for a moment.
“(Kuh… is it over…? In a place like this──!)”
A cold sweat ran down her back.
At that moment, a voice called out to her.
“Luna─────!”
“!? Lexia…?”
Before she could look for the owner of the voice,
“Coming, Lexia-san! Red Wind!”
A terrible hot wind blew with a dignified voice, and in an instant, the dust that had covered the area was scattered.
Then Lexia flew out, riding on the blast.
“Lexia…!”
Luna, who had been jumped by Lexia, slipped off the roof.
By a hair’s breadth, the beam of light hit the spot where she had been standing.
“! Spider!”
As she fell into the garden on the other side of the castle from the machine soldier, Luna let go of her string while holding Lexia, and they hung in midair.
Lexia looked at Luna with bright eyes.
“I’m glad I made it in time!”
“Lexia, you always do crazy things like that…”
Before Luna could finish, Lexia hugged her tightly.
“Luna, I finally met you…”
“…You’re exaggerating, we just met a while ago.”
“I know, but I couldn’t say it properly before!”
Lexia lowered her slightly teary eyes and rubbed her cheek against Luna’s.
“You know, I’ve been lonely… I guess I really can’t do without Luna.”
“Yeah.”
Lexia cupped Luna’s cheeks with her hands and looked at her with her dazzling, jade-colored eyes.
“We can’t be separated anymore. You’re my bodyguard!”
“Fuh… Even if you don’t say it, I can’t just leave a princess who does such reckless things alone.”
Luna smiled softly and hugged her.
They slowed down with the string and landed gently.
Then Tito beckoned to them from behind a wall.
“This way, Lexia-san, Luna-san!”
The two of them ran into the shadow of the crumbling wall, led by Tito.
Tito hugged Luna with a face that looked like it was about to cry.
“Waaah, Luna-san! I’m so glad you’re okay!”
“Yeah, I’m sorry I worried you.”
As Tito was patted by Luna and made a throat-clearing sound, Lexia asked her:
“Tito, how’s the evacuation going?”
“Yes, the evacuation on the east side is complete!”
Then Selene, who was wearing a hood, also rushed over.
“I also checked the west side, the royal castle is empty. The soldiers are directing the people of the royal capital to evacuate immediately.”
Luna’s eyes widened when she saw Selene carrying a sword.
“Selene! Was it your magic that cleared the smoke earlier? And why are you with Lexia and the others…”
“There are some complicated circumstances. But I’m glad you’re safe.”
Selene shifted her hood and smiled at Luna.
When Luna saw her face, she was surprised.
“Wha… that face, it’s exactly like mine…!”
“Yes, I’m really sorry that I got you involved in this… I’ll explain the details later. Right now, the most important thing is to stop Douglas, and I’ll fight by your side.”
Luna came to her senses and looked at her sharply.
“Yes. Douglas will use this ancient weapon──the machine soldier──to take control of the world.”
Lexia and the others looked up through the collapsed wall at Douglas, who was sitting on the Machine Soldier’s throne.
Douglas looked around the half-destroyed castle.
“Where are you hiding, you little girls? But no matter how you try to escape, it’s no use. As long as I have this machine soldier, I’m invincible. I’ll blow you all away in no time!”
Meanwhile, the main cannon gathered a black light.
Selene’s lips quivered.
“If the legends are true, this lightning cannon has enough power to easily wipe out an entire country. If it’s fired, many innocent people will be killed…!”
“We have to do something…”
“If we can destroy the cannon before the lightning cannon attack is launched, we’ll be fine!”
“No, that’s probably too difficult.”
Luna shakes her head at Tito, who points to the main cannon.
“The machine soldier’s armor is quite strong, probably made of some special ancient material. Even my strings didn’t work on it.”
“What? Luna-san’s attack didn’t work?”
“Is there no other way to stop the lightning cannon?”
Selene looks at Lexia with a worried expression.
“If we can get the key from Douglas, we should be able to stop it. However, the machine soldier is the ultimate weapon that combines the best of ancient technology, and it probably has a defense mechanism to protect the key holder. I wonder if we can get the key back before the lightning cannon is fired…”
“What should we do? We don’t have much time!”
Just as Tito panicked, the main cannon emitted an evil aura from its barrel.
At that moment, Lexia looked up in surprise.
“If we can’t stop it, then let it fire!”
“Eehh?!”
“W-what do you mean, Lexia-san…?”
Tito and Selene are surprised, but Luna’s eyes widen beside them.
“I see… that’s what it means!”
“Yeah!”
Lexia and Luna nod to each other and explain their plan to Tito and Selene.
“! Th-That’s amazing, I can’t believe you came up with that idea…!”
“Then maybe we can make it in time… No, this is the only way. Lexia-san’s quick thinking never ceases to amaze me.”
Tito and Selene’s eyes widened.
Luna looked up at the machine soldier, who turned its head to look for them, with a stern expression.
“The problem is the beam of light coming from the fingertips of that thing… It’s going to be pretty hard to carry out our plan while dodging that attack.”
“We have no choice but to try!”
Lexia declared, her eyes full of determination.
“We’ll call it the ‘Operation Roll, Roll, Crash’!”
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