I raised my head and looked squarely at the ship. Regardless of what happened next, I would not lose to the ghost ship in spirit.

I adjusted my breathing, concentrated, and began.

“Gray(Darken)…Rave(Celebrate)…”

The incantation flowed naturally from me, simultaneously acting as self-suggestion supported by a steady rhythm.

“…Crave(Want)...Deprave(Corrupt)…”

My focus gradually built, and my sense of self gave way to the words on my lips.

“Grave…me…(Engraved in me)”

I paid no attention to the rockets being fired at the boat. The only thing I was aware of was the treasure I was gifted as a grave keeper of Blackmore Graveyard. The steps to unlock it had seeped into every cell of my being.

“Grave…for you…(A grave for you)”

Dissipate, O ancient mystery.

O sweet enigma, return to nothingness.

“Pseudo-personality suspended. Mana yield exceeds regulation. Second stage restraint rescinded.”

Add’s carefree voice turned into— or perhaps, returned to being robotic. The scythe that devoured spirits turned back into a box, and then back into its original form, which Add had only been created to hide. I was also but one of the locks that kept this lance sealed.

*

Latio watched from the deck as light swelled above the waves.

“They really have an extraordinary Noble Phantasm like that…”

“That looks like trouble, Lady Latio!” Warned Tangere.

Even the voice of the familiar made by the Atlas Institute was laced with something akin to fear. That was just how the light was.

“Latio knows.”

The bracelet on the blue-haired woman’s hand clanged.

*

A change took place.

Some of the bones covering the ship’s hull grew in size. I realized immediately that it was meant to increase the ship’s defense.

I didn’t care.

What did that matter now?

Though my body became simply a mechanism to activate the lance, I heard one of my companions mutter something.

"...It's exactly like her Excalibur..."

Ah, Rin must have seen it.

King Arthur’s Excalibur was one of the world’s most famous Noble Phantasms, but it was only one of her many treasures.

In my hands, I held another of them, the holy lance that had impaled the traitor Mordred and struck the last note of King Arthur’s legend.

Without fear or hesitation, I grasped the light that poured from the box.

“—Rhongo—”

Magical Energy that was enough to wipe a small island from the map formed a spiral around my arm. It had become more familiar to me over the years.

I hurled it forward as I announced its true name.

“—myniad!”


---


A hurricane of dazzling light enveloped the world, whipping up a storm like a dragon in flight.

Its power could have made someone think that the sun had appeared in this patch of sea. Shining with harsh, miraculous light, Magical Energy accelerated relentlessly, turning into destructive particles that obliterated everything it touched. If not for the alchemist’s dense fog, the light would have been visible from the mainland.

I saw Latio freeze for a tenth of a second as the light subsided, for Zheng He’s ship had been torn in half. The lance’s radiance vaporized everything that it touched from the hull to the deck. What remained was red-hot and smoldering. I doubted that even a meteorite would be able to do so much damage.

“Was that your trump card?” Muttered Latio, but then quickly denied it and looked toward the front of the deck. “No, did you really use your trump card to escape?”

I heard another voice from the treasure ship.

“Gray, are you alright?”

“W-what?”

I nodded, stood up, and realized that I was on the treasure ship’s deck. Ergo’s phantasmal arms had pulled me here after I activated the lance.

The pieces of bone littering the waves looked like the surface of an alien planet, or like the intestines of some decaying animal adrift there. I could feel it throbbing through the soles of my feet.

“I never thought I would… ever board a ghost ship,” my mentor gasped. I thought the same.

I quietly walked over to him. He was not on his feet, probably because he had overexerted himself earlier.

Add was back in scythe form. In the past, activating Rhongomyniad would have made it listless for half a day. Now, I could continue fighting to protect my mentor.

“Latio’s calculation is complete,” announced the blue-haired woman. “Latio predicted the speed that Rhongomyniad diminished, measured its position, and gave up on the center in favor of protecting the sides. …Even so, only the bare minimum of its sailing ability was retained.”

To tell the truth, I had activated the lance with the intention of obliterating it, but Zheng He’s treasure ship held. Was that because of its design, Latio’s Alchemy, or both?


The Adventures of Lord El-Melloi II: The God Devourer; Chapter 4, Part 1; Chapter 4, Part 2