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Volume 1 Prologue Part 1

PROLOGUE

Music resounded in a grand cathedral.

There was a raised podium in front of it, and there are stairs leading up to the podium. From the wide open entrance to the stairs, a long crimson carpet was laid.

A pedestal with a transparent sphere is installed in the center of the back wall of the podium.

Inside the sphere, light and darkness mixed together, constantly changing shape.

It shows the fluctuations of this world.

It is called a Chaos Globe.

It was a symbol of an era of chaos that continued to last for a long time after order was lost from the world.

Two men in extravagant costumes stand in front of the Chaos Globe.

One of them is Silvestre Doucet, Grand Duke of the Fantasia Union, and the other is Matthias Kreische, Grand Duke of the Factory Alliance.

「I never thought the day would come when I could see you in a place other than on the battlefield. 」
Archduke Doucet spoke to Archduke Kreische while wearing a solemn expression on his face.
「Because these are such chaotic times. I thought that I was not going to be surprised by anything that might happen anymore, but even I would have never predicted that something like that is going to happen. 」

Archduke Kraiche nodded.

Fantasia Union and Factory Alliance are the great powers that divided the continent in two. Up until recently, it was believed that these two powers would start a war to see which one of them would claim hegemony over the entire continent…

However, after today, that situation was going to drastically change.

At that time, the music became even more glamorous, and at the same time, the sound of the bells ringing reverberated across the entire venue.

The sound of the bells rang not only in the magical city of Elam, where the cathedral is located, but also in towns and villages throughout the continent in celebration and blessing of the marriage between the young man and a woman that was meant to bring lasting peace to the continent.

Standing at the entrance to the cathedral, the young man and a woman dressed in pure white garments entered inside while walking side by side.

At that moment, the people gathered in the cathedral burst into applause all at once.

The young man is Silvestre’s son, Alexis Doucet, and the woman at his side was Marriane Kriesche, the eldest daughter of Archduke Matthias Kreische. With their respective fathers watching over them, the couple exchanged their wedding vows before the Chaos Globe.

It has been agreed that if the marriage between the two produces an heir, then the titles and the positions held by the two Archdukes will be combined into one.

The system of peerage has been established long ago, and now that the first emperor is about to be born, the disputes between monarchs over titles will be put to an end, and the continent will finally be unified into one though peaceful means.

This marriage is also expected to usher in the beginning of the new era of order. With the creation of the Grancrest, it is said that Chaos will disappear and the lost order will be completely restored.

But even though she was witnessing a truly historic moment, Siluca Meletes, a student of the Faculty of Summoning Magic at Elam’s Magic University, did not feel any emotions in particular.

Wearing the brand new uniform issued by the Magic University and only a light makeup, she carefully combed her blond hair, which she usually only combs with a dedicated hair comb, with her hand.

Since her undergraduate final exams were coming up soon, she would have preferred to stay in her laboratory and practice her Summoning Magic some more instead of attending such boring ceremony, however, she was chosen by the Headmaster Sempros to deliver a congratulatory address as the representative of the student body of Magic University, so she had no choice but to attend.

Really, wasting so many precious hours just for a few moments of speech.

Wishing that the ceremony would end as soon as possible, Siluca yawned as she applauded the bride and groom as they were passing by her…

And then a chilling sensation ran down through Siluca’s entire body.
For Siluca, it was a feeling that she was well familiar with, but she has never felt it so strongly in her entire life before.

It was a feeling of the force of Chaos converging in a single place along with some other, unknown elements, and most of the time, whenever something like that happens, it is a prelude to disaster.

(Where is it coming from?)

Siluca looked around the cathedral, since the nucleus where Chaos should have been converging should have formed somewhere. Siluca sharpened not only her sense of sight, but all the others as well, since if one wanted to accurately capture all of the fluctuations in the tides of Chaos, it was necessary to do so with all five senses simultaneously.

Locating the source of the disturbance did not take long, and she managed to do it before anyone else.

And she found it before anyone else.

「No way… 」

A voice like that escaped her mouth involuntarily.

The Chaos Core was created in the air near the Chaos Globe.

A black sphere materialized slowly, looking as if it was growing like a stain on reality. And directly below it were the figures of the two Archdukes who were waiting for the bride and groom to appear on stage. With each passing second, the swirling mass of light and darkness inside of the Chaos Globe was swaying more violently than she has ever seen.

「Just how much Chaos is there…? 」

Casting aside the ever increasing feeling of converging fear, Siluca tucked up the hem of her uniform and pulled out the stash of the magic wands that she was keeping hidden in case of emergencies.

Then she leapt out onto the crimson carpet and spread her arms out to block the bride and groom from proceeding further down the aisle.

「Please pardon my rudeness, your majesties, but you must not proceed any further from here… 」

After Siluca bowed briefly, she called out to them.

「And you are…? 」
The young man looked at her with a confused look on his face.

「What are you talking about? 」

The bride asked her in a stern tone.

「I promise that I will explain everything later! 」

Siluca answered them and then looked back at the podium.

It was then that it happened.

The entire cathedral has burst into an uproar in reaction to her actions, but she did not have any time to be bothered by it.

(I need to somehow disperse the converging Chaos…!)

That was the only thought that was in Siluca’s head at the current moment.

If nothing is done about it in time, the a great disaster is bound to occur.

「What in the hell do you think you are doing?! 」

「Siluca, remove yourself from there right this instant! 」

The angered professors of the Magic University were shouting at her one after another, but Siluca ignored all of these cries of restraint and ran up to the podium as fast as she could.

「It’s too dangerous to stay here! Get off the podium, now!!! 」

Siluca screamed towards the Archduke Ducet and Archduke Kreishe.

「Are you out of your mind?! Do you really intend to interrupt the sacred ritual?! 」

Archduke Ducet raised his voice at her in anger.
「Somebody, remove this impertinent wench from here at once! 」

Archduke Kreishe also shouted while frantically looking around.

「Get out of there, quickly! 」

Paying no heed to them, Siluca shouted back at them once more.

(If no thing is done about it, the Chaos will converge soon! It is the first time I have ever seen it in such high quantities, but I need to try dispersing it regardless!)

With a strong determination in her heart, Siluca was about to swingher magic wand at the sphere of Chaos, but…

「Please stop that, young lady. 」

Siluca thought that she heard a voice calling out to her, and immediately after that she felt that someone grabbed her by the arm and pulled her behind.

Siluca groaned in surprise. There was no signs of anyone approaching her until just a moment ago. It literally felt as if someone appeared behind her out of thin air just now.

(An Artist?!)

That was the only explanation that popped into Siluca’s mind.

An Art is an evil pattern that that is engraved upon the skin, through which a person can then invite Chaos directly into their body, and those who carve these evil pattern on their bodies of their own will are called Artists, and these individuals are capable of obtaining great supernatural power by doing so.