This is a training exercise.
Those of you who are not strong enough to resist my voice
are to return to your rooms immediately,
lock the door, and fall into a deep sleep.
Yes, understood.
Are you okay, Miquel?
I'm fine.
But that was the headmaster's voice...
Go! We can't miss this chance!
Right.
You were in the bath?
Yes.
I'm pretty pissed.
All right, this message is for those of you who remain.
Gather at the school building and prepare for combat.
That is all.
This is blasphemy towards the book... no, towards God!
Tell the soldiers at the outer gate that they
are not to interfere, no matter what happens within!
Such is the will of God!
U-Understood!
Oops. Oh dear.
Now, time to go hunting.
Just like he wanted.
Oh? Fog now?
Hmm... This fog...
Zavthier?
Clevatess!
CLEVATESS
Episode 5: Battle With Oneself
It's been a long time, Gart.
We haven't seen each other face-to-face since the Shaft of Elbe, have we?
Back then, you said you were a servant.
I had no reason to tell the truth to an outsider.
I'm more interested in just what you hope to accomplish here.
Why show yourself? Why provoke them?
I was simply getting bored with having to conceal myself.
Hadn't you decided that you were going to use
that form to watch the human baby, Luna, grow?
How did you know?
If you don't want me to learn something,
you shouldn't speak of it when you're near the forest.
I can imagine what you expect of that child.
Since the death of the hero...
For you,
the millennium of loss you've experienced ever since your birth...
All you've had is your duty as Lord of Dark Beasts.
You've felt empty because you lacked a goal.
But a chance encounter gave you a solid goal to strive for.
Right now, you look truly alive.
What are you getting at, you old hag?
I'm telling you to not lose sight of your goal.
It will harm you if others learn that Klen,
the Hiden boy, is actually Clevatess.
I'm well aware.
Then why do all this?
I have two things I'm trying to achieve.
First, since I'm bored of searching,
I'm going to bait our foe into revealing themselves.
Second, I'm going to cause enough chaos that my servant can escape.
She's capable of crawling out of wherever she is on her own, given the opportunity.
Despite her faults, she was the one hero who was able to reach me, after all.
I see.
I feel like I want to see what happens to you, the baby, and the hero Alicia.
How it will change the last millennium of loss...
Do as you like.
I assume whatever drives Vordin also has its roots in this millennium of loss.
Which will come out on top, I wonder?
What's this fog, by the way?
My own small way of helping.
It should keep you from having to fight all of them at once.
I want to minimize the number of students that die, you see.
As always, you side with the humans.
That's who I am now.
She has wings, but doesn't fly on her own...
That means she must be at her limits, I assume.
Well, I won't be able to keep this up too much longer myself.
Get out here now, servant.
Thank you all for gathering here,
young would-be wizards.
What you see there is an impure thing that does not belong on holy ground.
It must be eliminated.
The two students from Hiden, Klen Vatiss and Alyssa Sleihunt, are behind this.
They stole a holy book from the vault and foolishly broke the seal on it,
which created that tower.
We must get the book back and punish them!
There's no need to take them alive.
Those who succeed today will be granted even greater rewards by God.
This is getting way out of hand...
Now, present your Crests!
The mirror!
May God be with us!
Young children...
I shall grant you power!
What is this?
My crystal's power is overflowing...
Professor Chiffonlits.
Yes?
Stay focused.
We have combat experience. We have to take the lead.
O-Okay!
L-Let's go!
Ray Forester.
Now is the time to show your true worth.
I'll release all the limits I set on you.
If you can recover the stolen book,
I shall recognize you as General Drel's true successor,
and give you all rights to his "secret room."
That's what you're after, is it not?
Yes.
It doesn't matter how many of them die, as long as I get the Book of the Forge...
Oh, that's right.
Andrew.
I have another job for you.
It's draining power from me and growing and growing.
This cage is about to burst.
But I'm still just fine!
You've only consumed a small fraction of the Lord of Dark Beasts' power within me.
Drink more.
Grow more!
Crush me if you need to!
I can't die either way.
Show me what you're capable of!
I made it out...
I've still got five or six broken ribs.
I may be immortal, but without the ability to contact Klen,
I can't expect my wounds to heal.
Is it not attacking me because it just grew so quickly?
Well, whatever.
I'll get out of here before it starts moving again.
This place doesn't look like the reality I know...
But it's probably where he stores all the rare plants he's collected.
There.
I feel light, probably because I'm still a rat in reality.
What I see reflected in the glass is reality, too.
Huh? Was my tail this big before?
That's the snail I saw before I came here?
What is it?
A sign, moron.
You really are small... me.
It's me?
It's me before I lost my eye?
So small... So small and pathetic.
That's who you are.
A tiny creature hiding in something's shadow, that's what you really are!
So tiny, so tiny....
Weren't heroes supposed to be bigger?
At least you scream loud!
What's going on?
What the hell is this?
Why am I seeing myself?
Me? I mean, you always say...
you want to make the world bigger.
You want to be a hero, to defeat the Four Lords of Dark Beasts...
Ridiculous! How would you do that?
You should've realized it was impossible
when the first Lord of Dark Beasts beat the shit out of you!
That you're worthless!
You keep dreaming impossible dreams that you can never achieve!
That's why you're so small!
Yes, I'm small...
I could never beat the Four Lords of Dark Beasts in a million years...
And making the world bigger that way... is just a dream.
So you do understand, me.
But...
I gained something when I tried.
A thing I never would've gained if I hadn't tried.
A way to make the world bigger!
You're me, right?
But you're me before I died.
So of course you don't know!
You're not making a damn bit of sense!
I knew it...
I had a feeling about how this worked...
What is this power?
There's this weird feeling down near my ass...
The more I suffer...
This must be a trial.
Something that awakens a new power!
And the more I suffer, the more it grows...
That's what this power is!
Thanks to you, I felt it...
The small flame smoldering within me!
Shut up!
It's true.
The Lord of Dark Beasts killed me,
and now I'm his immortal slave, revived by his power!
I have to obey his every command,
and he can turn me back into a corpse any time he wants.
But he told me...
that he never ordered me to stop being a hero!
It's ridiculous, but those words... made my world bigger!
Even though I was the one who said I'd make the world bigger!
I can't believe... I had magical talent too...
Oh, it's gone.
I can't wait to brag to Klen after he mocked me.
That's not just magic.
This voice... Drel?
Now, pass through.
It will grant you one skill.
But you'll forget everything you said, heard, and saw here.
We'll split into three groups.
Group A will follow the road. Group B will go around through the forest.
And Group C will charge straight ahead.
Professor Chiffonlits will lead Group A.
Mary Merryweather will be her aide.
As you advance, confirm that no one is still inside the roadside buildings.
Ray Forester will lead Group B.
You're our main unit.
Take the strongest students, head through the forest,
and attack by surprise from the other side of the lake.
Those of us in Group C will provide support at range.
Attack from the front, see how the enemy reacts, and distract them.
If our foe, Klen Vatiss, really has the holy Book of Toah,
then there's no telling how strong he is.
The fact that it's in his possession proves he's a monster.
I've touched it just once, during my research,
and it burned half my body.
So even if you find the book, do not touch it.
This will be your first real battle.
You must win, and survive!
I'll fire the first shot.
Three-verse incantation!
Long-range attack spell!
Sinel! Ostren! Ferula!
So it'll be at least a little entertaining to kill you all.
Summon followers.
Vanguards of the shadow,
I'm not interested in any of them but Vordin.
Devour them.
You can possess up to two skills.
They are the path to magic that does not rely on arcanacite.
Through spells and incantations performed by one with a skill,
magic has infinite possibilities.
The voice sounds like Drel, though something's off.
But what he's saying feels true.
Nathan and the other students with Crests...
Whether they went through this gate or not decided their fates.
Now pass through.
Since I succeeded in the trial, I should go through, I assume.
Why don't you?
Well, I don't want to lose my memories by going through.
And...
This feels like a trap.
You've got a nasty smell about you.
I knew it!
How could you tell?
Only an idiot would believe you'd grant me power and just let me go.
Right, Headmaster?
You used the Book of Toah,
probably the second chapter, about the Village of Origin,
to make this place!
You're the one who gave Drel the secret room, too!
And behind you is Vordin, the Lord of Dark Beasts of the North!
I knew I was right.
The next time you want to trick someone,
you should try not to stink like you put too much makeup on.
Think you can catch me?
He's not following?
Well, whatever.
I saw it, if only for a second.
A red world beyond the mirror.
That's probably Drel's secret room.
This mirror world might have more than one layer.
Him?
Shit!
Got her.
I didn't expect her to succeed in the trial.
But she's still in the palm of my hand...
I was right to send him, just in case.
He's merciless to anything but plants.
Don't hate me. The headmaster said to kill you immediately.
Damn it... I'm weak.
Did I use all my power?
And actually...
How is this rat... even alive...?
I can understand him now.
She was supposed to feed that rare mutant plant...
Because I won in the trial?
Then maybe...
Hey, listen to me!
It started squeaking.
Creepy.
No luck, huh?
Fine, then...
Ow!
I don't want to fight someone I know is a student.
So it's better to run!
I can get in his blind spot and run behind him.
I'm used to moving on all fours now.
He can't chase me if he can't see me.
Buelo, Cesrios.
An incantation?
Oh, there you are.
You're a fast runner, huh?
Is this also the power of his Crest?
Everyone comes up with a name for their own Crest.
I named mine "Garden Words."
It has the power to listen to the plants and guide them.
My magic consists of Garden Words and the power to enhance their growth.
Not that there's any point in telling that to a rat.
But you might not be a rat.
The tree you're trapped in is called a strangling tree.
I planted the seeds in advance,
and asked them to grow quickly if they found my target.
It hurts...
But this damage that's slowly building up...
...will give me a chance to use that power again!
I was thinking...
I don't actually know how you
broke the cage with the mutant rose inside.
You might have some kind of special power.
The plant grew in a strange way and was weakened.
So I didn't want to just sit back and watch you die here.
So...
Maybe it's better if I just cut off your head.