Chapter 197.1: Waging War on Machina Guardian (Part 1)
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「And so, our enemy is the same big one from yesterday.」
To continue where she left off the night before, Mira summoned Isenfald and the Valkyrie Sisters behind the wall and gave them a brief explanation of the situation.
「Leave it to me, Mother!」
Isenfald was in a better mood than usual, happy that he had been summoned two days in a row. He was ready to enter the fight any moment.
「We sisters shall fulfill any and all of our Master's wishes.」
The Sisters also gave a solemn reply, though their eyes were burning with determination, ready to challenge a stronger foe. Except for Christina, the youngest. She looked like she was about to cry, recalling their fight the night before.
「Next I'll need support too.」
Muttering that, Mira deployed a Rosario Summoning Circle.
Isenfald had overwhelming power, while the Valkyrie Sisters could adapt to nearly any situation. Both of them were indispensable if Mira wanted to fight with all her power, but she still wanted someone to serve as support too.
Mira called the Diva Summon Leticia, Spirit of Stillness Worthramble, Pegasus, Cait Sith, and then Garuda.
「Masterrr, I've completed your second song~」
As soon as she was out of the magic circle, Leticia began to hum.
「I was wondering what the occasion was... and I see I'm surrounded by various distinguished individuals.」
Worthramble looked around nervously, seeing the Emperor Dragon, the Valkyrie Sisters, and even Leticia there.
But on the other hand Cait Sith was full of energy.
「I sense an imeowrtant battle!」
There were plenty of new faces around, but Cait Sith could sense what was happening already, so he jumped with a furious face while brandishing a sign that read 'Courage and recklessness are two sides of the same coin.'
Meanwhile Pegasus was, obviously enough, standing right next to Mira.
Garuda remained in a corner, silently awaiting Mira's orders.
「I believe this will be a harsh fight, but I'll be counting on each one of you.」
Mira looked at all of them as she said that, which made all of them tense up. Leticia and Cait Sith were a bit more relaxed, but even they paid attention carefully.
「Alright, and now to summon the main army.」
Mira quickly placed various summon spots behind the wall. She already had enough summons to take over a whole city, but that was not enough when fighting Machina Guardian.
It was just her and Soul Howl fighting a raid boss, so she had to use all the power she had available.
So now she was not pulling any stops, showing her method of outnumbering the enemy at full display.
She also had activated Sage's Enchanted Eyes to gather the mana in the air around her to use it for her summons. At the same time, the mark of the Spirit King's Divine Protection began to glow all over her body.
That was a marked difference from how she usually summoned her army.
Countless magic circles began to appear one after another in front of Mira. Those were not to summon Dark Knights, but also not to summon Holy Knights.
There were at least a thousand of them, and they were Mira's hidden trump card.
What came out did look like a knight, even though it was not a Dark Knight nor a Holy Knight.
「Good, it's working well.」
Mira smiled with satisfaction as she looked at her new army.
That was the product of using the Spirit King's Divine Protection to its limits, combined with the research Soul Howl had done into Compound Skills, making it Mira's own unique Skill.
She had experienced the Spirit King's power to link spirits when she enhanced the spirit mansion, with water and fire spirits providing warm water to the shower and kitchen.
That was what prompted Mira to wonder what else she could link together. Soul Howl's research into Compound Skills finalized that idea.
The results were the Ashen Knights standing in front of her. The best way to describe them was as vagrant knights, with a shield on their left hand, and a black sword on their right.
Mira had combined Dark Knights with Holy Knights. Then she even added Sanctia's power on top of that, increasing their potential further.
The Ashen Knights had the combined abilities of Dark Knights and Holy Knights, while also having amplified power. Their weapon also had the properties of Sanctia, making them especially suited to attack.
That new summon was far superior to the Armor Spirits she used as a basis for them. Their power could likely match that of higher level summons, while preserving their status as Armor Spirits, so there was no limit on how many Mira could summon.
But that did not mean she could use this summon wherever she wanted. It required use of the Spirit King's Divine Protection, as well as Sanctia, which increased its mana cost dramatically. It was also similar to higher level summons in that aspect.
Still, they were treated as low level summons, meaning they could be summoned without the need of a lengthy chant, while still packing the power of a higher level summon, making it quite practical.
「Alright Alfina, I'll entrust you and your sisters with commanding this army. Go and pick your troops.」
Satisfied with how her new army looked, Mira turned around.
「Understood.」
This was the first time that the Sisters saw the Ashen Knights, but just at first sight they could tell how powerful they were. Alfina knelt with deep respect, while rejoicing in her mind that Mira had given them the honor of leading such a powerful army.
Under Alfina's orders, the Sisters split the Ashen Knights into different groups, which they formed into troops.
While Alfina's excited voice echoed in the background, Mira turned to look at Cait Sith.
「Alright, First Lieutenant. I have a very important mission for you again today. I don't have to explain, right?」
Saying that, Mira placed four Magic Sealing Stones the size of small pebbles in Cait Sith's hand.
「As you wish, meow!!」
Cait Sith accepted them with exaggerated reverence, then quickly changed into a ninja outfit and struck a fitting pose. The sign on his back also changed to read 'A role in the shadows.'
Cait Sith instantly knew what that important mission was. But that much was expected, as this had always been Cait Sith's role whenever Danbulf was fighting a large scale war.
The mission entailed carrying the Magic Sealing Stones and placing them on the four corners of the battlefield.
The stones held a certain Summoning Skill, Binding Arcana Circle. Activating them would empower any nearby summon. But there was something more, if four of them were placed encircling an area, then their effect would spread to the entire area. There was a limit to how far each of the Binding Arcana Circles could be from each other, but the boss arena was still within Mira's abilities.