A fine, misty rain, too thin to clearly make out, drifted down steadily from the overcast sky. At some point, the silver-haired young man's coat had become coated in glistening silver droplets, as though he were wrapped in a layer of frost.
Somewhere along the Rhine, Avia stood quietly, looking down at the flowing river below.
It had already been a month since he left Mount Etna. In the meantime, the Bagaudae Rebellion—the upheaval shaking Western Rome to its core—had shown no signs of faltering despite facing the empire's elite Praetorian Guard. Instead, it had managed to hold its ground in a deadlock…
This had caught Avia somewhat off guard. Then again, considering the extent of support being provided behind the scenes by magi, Dead Apostles, and Germanic tribes, perhaps it wasn't so surprising. And yet… the Church, which typically would never have tolerated such disorder, had stayed uncharacteristically silent. That part felt odd.
"So this is the Rhine, huh? I can feel traces of my dragon factor lingering here!"
A voice rang out in Avia's mind just as he was gazing quietly down.
It belonged to none other than the Primordial Greek Dragon, Typhon Euphemilos.
Ever since that day, the red-haired girl had taken to following him around on her own accord. Whenever he asked why, she would casually reply:
"Because I haven't eaten you yet."
That same excuse, over and over, until eventually he stopped asking.
Typhon, it seemed, wasn't used to walking in a human body—her gait was like a toddler learning to walk. But of course, she'd never admit to such a disgrace. So Avia, seeing an opportunity, offhandedly mentioned that he lacked defensive gear and might one day get caught off guard.
Pleased with herself, the red-haired girl had transformed into her draconic machine form, then again into a suit of armor, and with great "generosity" allowed Avia to wear her.
Ashen Scorch Armor—that was the name Typhon had given it. In truth, it was an inverted conceptual weapon born from Mount Etna itself. The sealing mechanism had been reversed, converting the dragon's power into a humanoid limiter, functioning as a regulator to contain her overwhelming might.
In short, to shatter this armor's shell, one would need power equivalent to the destruction of Mount Etna.
Lava-like crimson lines pulsed visibly across the surface of the armor. The exposed visor on the helm resembled, by modern standards, not so much a Kamen Rider, but more like a hybrid of a Final Fantasy Dragoon and Dark Knight—or perhaps a third-stage shadow warrior, a Flame Knight.
Still, out of deference to Typhon's pride, the armor usually remained unseen. But its effects were always active.
"Yeah. A few years ago, I killed Fafnir here with Siegfried and claimed the Rhein Gold."
Avia pointed down at the river as he spoke.
"Ah, that golden thing attached to your soul… it doesn't seem like it's native to this world. More like something from another star..."
"Who knows? Doesn't really matter."
"True, not really important. Just thought I'd mention it…"
Perhaps sensing her comment hadn't landed, Typhon quickly added another thought in his usual psychic voice:
"By the way, I'm picking up another fragment of myself—this one has a dragon-bull hybrid resonance. It's in that Gaul place you mentioned earlier."
"...I see."
Avia paused a few seconds before answering, his voice calm.
Typhon's casual remark had explained a lot—specifically, why the Bagaudae Rebellion had managed to hold its own against Western Rome.
One of the three Magi of the Age of Gods who once conspired with Ptolemy—Kizz, a mage from the Wandering Sea who held the Holy Grail of the Gate of Preservation—had joined the fray.
The three great magical organizations—Atlas Institute's Seven Instruments of World's End, the Clock Tower (with its claim on Albion's corpse), and the Wandering Sea's Secret Principles—were rival superpowers.
The Wandering Sea's five secret principles were each guarded by magi bearing a corresponding gate. Among them, Kizz's Gate of Preservation had the ability to host living deities within the present world—such as the Greek wine god's former self, Prince Zagreus of the Underworld, bound into the world by contract.
For unknown reasons, Kizz had now deployed Zagreus—who had apparently consumed a fragment of Typhon—to assist the Bagaudae Rebellion in Gaul.
That dragon-bull hybrid presence… unless Avia was mistaken, it also bore the divine essence of Ōkuninushi, an Eastern Kunitsukami god. It was likely brought in by one of the mountain-court mages conspiring with Kizz.
Come to think of it, one of those mountain-court mages was said to hold a fragment of Sun Wukong, too.
In the Type-Moon world, the ancient mythic conflict between dragons and bulls had played out since the Age of Gods.
In Babylon, the Hero-King Gilgamesh and his companion Enkidu had slain the Heavenly Bull Gugalanna, thus cementing divine kingship.
In Greece, Zeus himself bore bovine traits—often even transforming into a bull. His greatest foe was the primordial dragon: Typhon.
In Egypt, Greek gods had mingled with local deities, perhaps due to the legend of the Greek gods fleeing to Egypt to escape Typhon.
Set, the god of war who was once seen as a peer of Typhon, became the slayer of serpents and the protector of the sun god Ra during his voyage. But he also slew his brother Osiris and warred with Osiris's son Horus, ultimately losing.
On the mainland, there had been the battle between the Bull God Chiyou and the Dragon God Yinglong.
In Japan, things were a bit more complicated. The legendary giant serpent Yamata-no-Orochi was sometimes equated with Ōkuninushi, the rope-like god of decay. As the leader of the Kunitsukami, Ōkuninushi was considered a god of arms—sharing origins with Chiyou.
In short, Ōkuninushi, the defeated Kunitsukami god struck down by the Amatsukami sun goddess Amaterasu, was one of the world's exceedingly rare dragon-bull hybrid gods.
Avia had to admit—the situation now was a mess.
His Huns hadn't even finished unifying, and already these Age of Gods mages were straying from their "intended roles."
Then again, it was understandable. After all, the Osiris divine corpse they once planned to use—deep beneath the sea—had been destroyed by him back in the 1st century. These few hundred years of replanning were par for the course.
If the Dead Apostle behind the Bagaudae Rebellion was acting under orders from Duke of White Wings, the current public leader of the Dead Apostles, then the mess was even greater. It would mean that the 14th Dead Apostle Ancestor, the Financial Demon King Van-Fem, might set aside his enmity toward the Duke and join forces with him… all for the sake of preserving the Dead Apostles.
Van-Fem was an old friend of the Mage Marshal, and both were associates of Mesalla Erskedeth, based in Monaco. Mesalla was an ancestor of Flat's second-generation disciples—and also the magus who created the New Human: Tia.
"Hey, human, what's with the silence? You've been quiet forever."
"…Ah. Nothing. Just surprised, that's all—"
As the two conversed, the rain continued to fall like mist from the sky. The silver-haired youth gazed intently at the mountain ahead. Beyond the curtain of trembling rain, the world stretched on in an endless shroud of darkness. No sign of life could be seen.
And then, a familiar voice rose from the rain-soaked forest.
"Avia? It's been a while."
"…Yeah. Long time no see, Siegfried."