Saga of Slime and Devil (Remake)

Vol 1 | Chapter 6 | Gathering Allies

Gunshots whizzed by as explosions shook the ground, deafening the screams of soldiers all around. Some screams were of anger, others fear, pain, or agony. If there was a single word to describe the scene, it would be 'Hell.'

All of this, however, was all too familiar with Viktoria. She had grown desensitized to it all to the point where she showed no hesitation when she took part in the carnage and death that engulfed it. Even through it all, through the worst of these hells and and most chaotic of battles she managed to maintain faith in their victory. She trusted the battalion commander with her life and with the life of her comrades in the 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion. She was the youngest of them, but easily the one most fitting to lead the group, having been the one to create it in the first place.

But now, she felt an emotion she had only felt slightly, always suppressing it at the command of her leading officer. That emotion was fear. She had witnessed the battalion commander take a powerful magical attack head-on, and when the smoke cleared she wasn't there. The mage that fired the spell remained for a moment, looking down frozen, as if they didn't know what to do with themselves now that they had killed her. After just a moment though, that mage dashed off, though she no longer fought with the same ferocity that she did against the commander.

Seeing the mage that struck down the commander flee, Viktoria descended, hoping that their commander had survived the blast, that they were just injured, or in the worst case scenario, she hoped she could retrieve her body so she could receive the proper military funeral she deserved.

As she landed where the magical attack had struck the floor though, she found nothing. Looking down, all that was left was a smoldering, scorched crater. An immediate glance didn't show any bodies, but perhaps she was elsewhere. Suddenly though, she noticed one thing among the black, scorched earth at her feet. Shimmering against the few rays of sunlight peeking through the darkened clouds was what was unmistakingly the commander's Computation Jewel.

Viktoria picked up the jewel, the Type 95, the most powerful computation jewel in the world that only the battalion commander could use. Unlike the rectangular models used by most of the army, hers was circular and golden, a cross at the top connecting it to a chain around the neck and a large red jewel in the center containing four cores. It was a marvel of magical engineering, the fact that it even worked seemed to be a miracle in itself. However if it was here that meant...

There was no way she had survived, not without it. The Computation Jewel was the source of a mage's power, and while some spells could be cast without it, there was no way she could survive, let alone escape the battle without it.

Viktoria still held out hope, thinking that perhaps she dropped it on the way down and she was still around here somewhere. Before she could go and look, the jewel began to glow a bright golden color. She had seen it do this before, but only when the commander had used it to the maximum of its capabilities. For it to activate now, especially when she wasn't even trying to use it, something must be wrong.

Before she could even have the time to be confused, she was distracted by a light shooting up from the ground below her as a complex magical circle appeared below her feet, various geometric shapes forming together into a circle of incredible magical power. Realizing that she didn't have the time to flee and that her current jewel would not be able to withstand whatever attack such a powerful magical circle could launch at her, she placed the Type 95 around her neck, praying that she could use it at least once, just to make sure she could survive the impending attack.

The Type 95 glowed brighter, but no attack came. The circle glowed brighter until she could no longer see the war going on around her, the sound of the circle dwarfing out the screams of hell beyond it. As the light dimmed down, however, the war was nowhere to be seen, and the sounds of hell echoed in the back of her mind before finally fading.