Act 22- Formula of purity

Seirei Gensouki 22 - Junpaku no Hootenshiki (精霊幻想記22.純白の方程式)

Synopsis:
The white mage’s awakening spreads a new ripple through the world...
 * -|English =

Put under the restriction of God’s merciless rules, Rio decides to use force to save his important people from their predicament even if he has to take risks. In a situation where aside from his familiar Sora no one should remember him, she certainly said “Rio”. Meanwhile, the one who appeared before Miharu and her friends living in the Kingdom of Galarc was ...

"Hey ...... I met you again, Miharu"

What will bring about the burning with love flame hero’s unexpected visit, while the mechanism left behind by the seventh wise God Lina begins to turn?

白き魔道士の覚醒は、世界に新たな波紋を広げる――
 * -|Japanese =

無慈悲な神のルールという制限下、リスクを負ってでも大切な人たちの窮地を救うべく武力介入を決めたリオ. 己が眷属であるソラ以外の誰もがリオのことを覚えていない筈の状況で、しかし、彼女は確かに口にした――「リオ」と. 一方、ガルアーク王国で暮らす美春たちの下に現れた人物は……

「やあ……また会えたね、美春」

七賢神リーナが遺した仕掛けが廻り始める中、恋心を燻ぶらせる炎の勇者の予期せぬ来訪がもたらすものとは……？

Prologue: The rules of God known by Rio.

 * 1) Every time a transcendental uses their authority the residents of the world will forget their existence. So the people don’t find that strange their memories will be conveniently complimented if needed. Only another transcendental or their familiars can remember the transcendentals. Every time anyone forces themselves to remember a transcendental their thoughts will be stopped and the next time the burden on the brain will increase.
 * 2) Those who become transcendentals will become an existence that has it hard to leave an impression on people. The residents of the world can be aware of and have a conversation with the transcendentals while face to face with them, but once separated they will forget to have had contact with them.
 * 3) The transcendentals can’t help concrete individuals or groups, if they break this they will forget the person or people they wanted to help.
 * 4) The familiars are similarly bound by God’s rules just like the transcendentals. But when not accompanied by the transcendental the second rule will be weakened.

Chapter 1: The battle in Rodania’s sky.
In Rodania, at the street leading to its magic ship docks, Rio looks dumbfoundedly at Celia while asking himself why, while she was crying sadly her body began to shine and a magic circle appeared around her just like if some magic had been activated. “Success, everything is impossible right now but I will entrust you with the things that I couldn’t give to that girl.” Celia looks around herself searching for the source of the voice who told her that. Then a lot of information enters Celia’s mind. At that instant Celia enters a trance, even if her eyes point at Rio she isn’t looking at him she just spaces out while surrounded by the shining magic formation. Next to her, her father Roland shakes her shoulders while calling her name. Sara, Orphia and Alma also look worriedly at Celia. Everyone else around them looked at her with surprise too. But they aren’t in a situation where they can just stand around being surprised, the army lead by Duke Arbor continues its attack, their griffin riders are in front of them and his magic ship fleet is coming closer. Rodania’s griffin riders are enduring and earning time but that won’t last long, that’s why all of the refugees even while looking at Celia don’t stop moving towards the docks. After some tens of seconds the magic formation around Celia disappears and…

Celia finally comes back to herself but her expression is sad and tears go down her cheeks, Roland asks Celia what is happening to her, Celia can’t explain herself well, rather that explaining things to Roland she shakes her head while cleaning her tears then, almost if saying that she won’t forget again her red and swollen eyes send a look full of resolve towards Rio. Rio also looks at Celia just like he is being sucked into her gaze. While the two continue looking into the other’s eyes while keeping a distance of several meters between them, Roland looks at the two in wonder after feeling the bond between them. Meanwhile Sara asks Rio who he is in a low voice, Orphia and Alma next to her look fixedly at him too, Rio tells them his name to check their reaction. Orphia and Alma ask Rio at the same time if they have met anywhere before. Rio thinks it is as expected, that they don’t remember him but seem to feel something is off, after confirming that Rio tells the three that they are imagining it and to hurry, that he will escort them until the docks, Celia accepts Rio’s suggestion and tells everyone to keep going because Christina’s group is already going there. Rio and Celia begin to walk the way to the docks and Sara, Orphia, Alma and Roland follow after them.

Rio sees some griffin riders flying over Christina’s group and prepares to intercept them but stops when he realizes that Stewart is one of them. Rio wonders why did they separate themselves from the rest of their squad and descended. Stewart approaches Rio and asks him who he is. Celia tells Stewart that it is fine because Rio isn’t someone suspicious, that rather than that, Christina and Flora are ahead of them, that they should be escorting them. When Stewart says he understands and decides to leave a group of enemy griffin riders surround Rio’s group thinking there must be a VIP with them if Stewart’s group is with them. Sara and the rest prepare their weapons but Rio tells Sara that he will stop the enemies and that he leaves everyone’s escort until the ship to her, then he takes the vanguard before she can answer him, Sara looks at Rio with confusion wondering why he knows her name. Sora tells Rio she will stay with him, Rio thanks her and tells her to not let any enemies that get past him proceed to the port while he takes the front, Sora agrees.

Celia calls out to Rio anxiously, she looks at him like a lost child wondering if he will just disappear if things continue like that, Rio tells her that it is fine, that he will go meet her later. After he sees Celia nodding Rio kicks the ground and advances on his enemies, Rio shoots a great ball of wind at the griffin riders, swallowed by it they are shaken in every direction by the air currents inside the wind ball until they lose control of their griffins and are left hanging from them by their lifelines, then they fall together to the ground. The enemies outside the range of Rio’s technique are now focused on him and decide to eliminate him by raining light bullets on him. Rio extends a hand forward and creates a magic barrier, the closer they get to the barrier the more kinetic energy the light bullets lose until they stop in front of it. Then all of the light bullets begin to go back the way they came from towards their casters. The enemies panic and try to dodge the light bullets. Rio does his best to just hurt his enemies so they have to assign as much personal as possible later to rescuing them instead of pursuing the refugees, he also needs to mind that the harder he fights against his enemies the harder the rule that forbids to favor just one side in a conflict between normal people will affect him, Rio expects that leaving his enemies alive can be a factor in lessening the impact of his intervention since he won’t be altering the power balance that much after all but…there are too many enemies, against an army so big Rio’s effort might be like pouring water on a burning stone.

Rio looks calmly over the battlefield while paying attention to the mask’s wear. Controlling uncountable light bullets at the same time, they attack the griffin riders from above, below, left and right. If the enemies get close they will form a wall that stops them, if they try to go past Rio the light bullets will fly after them. If they come at him in groups Rio would shoot down part of their griffins so the rest have to rescue the fallen ones. Rio is changing the flow of the battle as much as Renji did before, now all of Beltrum's forces begin to focus on taking him down while Restoration’s knights are using the leeway they gained for regrouping and reorganizing themselves. In the middle of all that Rio feels something is off, not in a bad way but in a good one. Even for him controlling individually so many tens of light bullets would require a lot of concentration but now… Rio asks himself if his ability for controlling techniques is higher than before, he wonders if it is due to awakening as a transcendental, Rio feels that the current him has leeway for using even more techniques, that if is like that … Rio creates hundreds of additional light bullets in response to the enemy reinforcements and tells Restoration’s knights to prioritize escorting Christina’s group and the rest of the refugees.

The commanders are surprised when Rio uses spirit arts to make his voice reach them, they don't understand who is talking to them but when they look at the ground and see Christina’s group they decide to do as told to them. Beltrum’s knights try to go after them but Rio’s light bullets stop them in their tracks, Restoration’s knights continue going their way to the docks after thanking Rio. One of Restoration’s commanders approaches Rio and asks him if he can continue to count with his cooperation later, Rio tells him that he can, the commander asks Rio if Christina and Flora are really on their way to the docks, Rio tells the commander that they are and that Hiroaki and Hugenot are with them too. The commander says that it is enough with knowing that much. Rio tells the commander to go to the docks while he stops the enemies and to conserve their strength for the time being. The commander asks Rio if they can’t defend the city if he joins forces with them. Rio can’t answer, a part of him wants to do precisely that after all, but then his mask makes more cracking noises, reminding him to not forget his place as a transcendental. Rio tells the commander that he won’t be able to fight for that long, that he won’t last until the city is recovered.

Rio thinks the most likely there are more troops coming to the city, that he might be able to repel them if he doesn’t mind using up the masks, but that as long as he doesn’t take care of the root of the problem, Duke Arbor, Rodania will be attacked again. But that would be changing a country’s history, Rio doesn’t know how many masks he would need or if he wants to do that much or not. Rio thinks what he wants to protect is Celia’s group and not Rodania. The commander, not knowing about the transcendentals, thinks Rio means that his magic power won’t last that long. Rio tells the commander that there is no time and to go without correcting his misunderstanding, then he flies towards Beltrum’s troops alone. Restoration’s griffin riders wonder who is Rio and how he can fly while on their way to Christina’s group.

Meanwhile Christina and Celia’s group continue to make their way to the docks with the rest of the refugees, everyone is making worried faces but they aren’t panicking, the sight of Rio stopping Beltrum’s army alone is giving them some peace of mind, everyone looks at Rio in wonder while boarding the ships, Christina and Celia have to hurry everyone into the ships so the line doesn’t get slower, around them Sara, Orphia and Alma keep an eye on their surroundings to make sure that no enemy sneaks up on them. Kouta and Rei who needed to carry Hiroaki into the ship with Flora and Roanna are looking at Rio fighting, Kouta looks at Rei in exasperation when he compares Rio to some anime character, Rei asks Kouta if he is wrong, that Hiroaki would surely agree with him when seeing that all-range attack. Orphia sees a group of griffin riders and prepares for intercepting them, Christina stops her in a hurry after seeing that they are allies. The commander lands alone next to Christina and she asks him to report the situation to her. The commander tells Christina that from now on every soldier will be in charge of protecting the docks because as she can see the front-lines are being held.

Christina says she understands, the commander asks Christina about Rio’s identity, Christina says she doesn’t know, the commander asks Christina if even she herself doesn’t know, Christina confirms it. Christina asks herself why. Why does she feel something is off while looking at Rio fighting in the distance? What is this feeling of déjà vu? Aside of the feeling of reassurance, what are the feelings of guilt just about to crush her chest. Celia calls out to Christina and she asks her what it is. Celia tells Christina that no more refugees are entering the docks and that the ones who came are almost accommodated in the ships, the commander tells Christina he didn’t see more people coming from the sky earlier. Christina hardens her expression and looks at the five ships full of refugees in the docks, then she gives the order of preparing to depart towards Galarc’s capital once all of the refugees are on board the ships. The soldiers salute and Christina tells the commander he will lead the ships’ escort until they are away from the city, The commander says he understands. After all of the griffin riders go back to the sky Christina tells Celia to board the magic ship too with Sara’s group because from now the soldiers will be in charge of protecting the ships, Celia says she understands.

The bridge of Beltrum’s flagship. Helmut screams at no one in particular to not fuck with him and asks what is happening while seeing his griffin riders running away in desperation from Rio’s light bullets, a soldier next to him tells him that they can’t secure the air superiority, Helmut tells him he understands that just from watching, he is seething in anger. Thanks to Renji’s surprise attack they should already have the control of the sky and be able of going to the city’s docks through the shortest way for cutting off the enemy’s retreat. But at this rate the enemy will escape and he won’t be able to recover the Regalia. The ship’s captain asks Helmut if they can change the fleet’s course so it isn’t damaged by Rio, Helmut growls full of indignation but accepts the suggestion and orders the fleet to divide itself in two and to surround Rio. The ship’s captain asks Helmut what to do about Rio. Helmut tells the captain to use the griffin riders for keeping him busy, that the magic power for the stunt he is pulling shouldn’t last that long anyway, that if they can’t defeat him they just need to keep their distance and make it a battle of endurance, the captain obeys the command. Helmut tells the captain that taking control of the docks is their priority, that if he sees any ships moving he can shoot them down. The captain tells Helmut that it is possible that the princesses are evacuating in the ships. Helmut tells the captain that it is fine and to give the order already. The soldiers begin to act on Helmut’s orders while he murmurs resentfully while looking at the sky that he won’t let them escape.

Rio looks at the movements of Beltrum’s fleet, looks at the ships just about to take flight and he soon realizes the fleet’s aim, he thinks at this rate Helmut’s ships that are already at their cruising speed will easily catch up to the ships in the lake that haven’t picked up speed yet. Sora calls out Rio for checking if he realized the danger, Rio says he saw their movement, Sora asks Rio if she should sink some ships, Rio asks awkwardly while smiling wryly at Sora’s radical ideas if that wouldn’t clash too much with God’s rules. Sora says that it would but that she doesn’t think the enemy will stop if they don’t do this much, Rio agrees and takes a moment to think, then he tells Sora that he has an idea, Sora says that as expected of the dragon king. Rio thanks Sora with a bashful smile for her trust and praises while feeling awkward because he didn't tell her the plan yet. Rio says that for the time being he will take care of the enemies in front of him but that the burden on the mask will be big. Rio gathers around him all of the light bullets he has been using until now. The griffin riders tremble while guessing Rio’s intentions, the order of retreat is given but it is too late, Rio makes all of the light bullets around him fly in every direction but without aiming carefully this time. The enemies fall to the ground one after the other and the fortunate ones who escaped the attack go to their rescue in a hurry. The mask is cracking more and more while losing some fragments. Rio reflects on his gained understanding of what he needs to do for reducing the burden on the masks and what makes it worse, he thinks the next time it will be easier to adjust accordingly. Rio tells Sora to follow him and flies towards the lake where the magic ships are just about to take off.

Short stories.
'''*TLN: As usual the summary of the whole book will be posted between 10 and 14 days after its publication date. In other words between the 10th and 14th of August.'''
 * 1) Toranoana - The dragon king's bed: Sora is overjoyed about being able of reuniting with her lord after one thousand years. The next morning, when she opened her eyes Sora was looking at the bed Rio had just used...
 * 2) Melonbooks - Arabian☆queen: By Flora's request Christina will participate in the play "Aladdin and the magic lamp". But her oufit is more daring than she imagined!?
 * 3) Bookwalker - The dragon king's cooking: Sora who  is moved by the deliciousness of the food made by Rio. Rio who looks with a smile at the  Sora who can eat quite well despite her small size.