The Lord of Nightfall's Will I

"My will, for you, my dear, is the very means to take hold of and influence the most dangerous and very definition of indestructible. The capacity to use the most powerful interstellar weapon – the Tricuds Ring!"

Speaking her words with great enthusiasm, Tyvetta pinched at my cheeks as there was a wonderful smile on her face as if she were waiting for my reaction.

"Tricuds... Ring...? What is that?"

She uttered words I couldn't quite understand — but there was still one word that was caught in my ears; Ring.

There was only one object of significance that I knew that was called a Ring, the tool, or tools, I was told to take and remove from the hands of others.

"Are you talking about those enormous rings that are larger than planets, those things?"

I questioned her, seeking to confirm my assumption was correct.

"Hmmm, yes. Those."

Humming to herself, Tyvetta confirmed my thoughts as she sported a look, almost as if she recognized why I asked for clarification.

"Oh..."

This was an unexpected reveal, I didn't know whether I should have been shocked or happy about this entire situation.

I was told to find and take the Rings, yet lacked any information or way to go about doing so — something that weighed heavily on my mind in recent days.

Ever since visiting the Mirror, from time to time images of the Rings would assault my head almost as if they were trying to remind me of my mission.

Maybe the reason it did so was so that I would understand the magnitude of accepting this will of hers.

"I bet you're confused about the reasoning about this, follow me, ah — wait. I'll have one of my specs carry you, come along now."

With some more pep in her step, Tyvetta bounced onto her feet as she looked at the two who remained stationary, observing us.

When hearing her words the chimera beast strode over to me, to which Tyvetta lifted me and had me sit on its back as she took to moving — the beast and me following after her.

"Thank you."

"Mm, no problem."

When I looked back over to where the two Spectral had stood, I noticed how the lanky figure was now gone.

It was still there a moment ago, but after we began to follow Tyvetta it disappeared; not giving me enough time to see its appearance.

"Whatever—"

I muttered to myself upon its disappearance as it wasn't important. After all, I would see it again in the future, perhaps hear it in my head even.

With that, I watched Tyvetta's back as she walked along the Blue plane and thunder began to roar much louder than it had in the previous calm.

Along with it came the shaking of the plane, it reminded me of what happened when I was at the Mirror.

The only difference was that I could tell that the place wasn't falling apart, no, instead it seemed to be moving in a way reminiscent of a machine — it was transforming, not crumbling.

We continued to move, ignoring the shaking as things began to rise. The blue off in the distance rose as black began to appear under them.

Pipes began to sprout from the ground along with it as mechanical structures began to make an appearance.

When I looked at the ground I could see lines separating large pieces of the ground from each, showing how they would be when the ground rose.

I continued to watch as the ground closer and closer to us began to rise, and once the ground right off the path we walked on rose to the sky, I could understand what they were.

They were buildings, machines, and the entirety of the blue plane changed into an array of various bright colors and noises as it breathed to life.

The thunder in the sky only made the place's atmosphere much more lively as it was accompanied by the sound of whirring and humming machines, the clicking of gears, and steam being released from large pipes.

As I sat on the beast I stared at my surroundings with my mouth left agape. The transformation of the plane was something I hadn't expected.

I couldn't comprehend this place, even though the capital city had many great technologies along with its sleek buildings.

Technology was more like a highly ingrained accessory there; but for this place, the city, technology was Akin to its blood, its skeleton, and its skin — the city was a machine itself

The city was breathtaking.

As Tyvetta led me on the wide blue road we walked on I could see several humanoid and non-humanoid machines walking past us, or shifting through facilities.

I gaped in amazement upon beholding the large machine that had just strode past us as it was carrying on its body large batteries, with what seemed to be cannons instilled into its arms.

"Tyvetta! What is that thing!"

With considerable enthusiasm, I shouted out to Tyvetta with a finger pointed toward the large hunk of moving metal.

"That, my dear, is a Defense Automaton. Ah, pulse cannon variant."

Seeing my excitement Tyvetta let out a laugh before answering me.

She seemed to be taking in breaths of fresh air as she strolled the streets, with me in tow. She would from time to time wave at the busy machines and they would wave back as well.

"Defense, are there assault ones as well?"

I questioned, I mean if it's titled defense that means there are most definitely assault versions, or at least other variants.

"Mm, yes. There are a total of four variants. Assault, Defense, Support, and infrastructure. They each have different duties, but the support variants assist any of the others that might need it."

Listening to her brief introduction to the various automatons I nodded my head and proceeded with my observation of the place.

I was able to notice the various variants by watching what they were doing. Many of them were banging at nails with hammers, while others were carrying pipes and other large pieces of metal.

These were what I would assume to be the infrastructure automatons

Some of those were being followed by automatons that had yellow on the top of their heads and their legs.

Those who were marked yellow were helping the infrastructure ones with their lifts, holding something down, keeping things in place — they were doing things to make their jobs easier.

These were the Support Automatons.

On platforms above us were a group of automatons with varying weapons and sizes who seemed to be made in a fashion that favors combat, these were the Assault Automatons.

There were Support Automatons standing with them as they seemed to focus on a more mechanic and repairmen placement with them.

Counting the large Automaton that had gone past us earlier I had seen all the Variants. There seemed to be even further sub-variants of each main variant that made the differences between them even wider.

I noticed that they had this running gimmick with their looks. Similar to how the Support Automatons have yellow on their legs – the Assault, Defense, and Infrastructure ones had different parts that stood out.

The Assault Automatons had blue numbered markings painted on them and their heads and they were built with darker metal compared to the rest.

Defense Automatons, from what I saw, were generally coated white and took to being rounder than their counterparts — most carried a battery pack installed on them.

While the Infrastructure Automatons were of varying colors of red, blue, green, and purple; most likely signifying where they were working.

Other than the color coding, they were all made of considerably thicker parts, as some had built-in tools.

Every group of Automatons was accompanied by different, less humanoid, Automatons and machines that assisted them, or carried objects and tools.

Other than these differences in each variant, I noticed how all of them held some differences that made them all unique — almost as if in a bid to give themselves a sense of self.

When I had first heard of Spectral Beast and the many other things connected to Tyvetta I had assumed that she was more tied to nature.

Yet upon setting my gaze on this magnificent city I couldn't help but think the opposite, and at the same time wonder about its origin and purpose.

I could only watch them all move about efficiently with a sense of awe. Just seeing the place made me want to dig into the books and learn every inch of history bout this place.

Moving my eyes away from the working Automatons, due to the beast I was riding coming to a halt, I looked to Tyvetta and what was in front of us.

In our path was a large door made of lightly colored metal that looked quite heavy. On both sides of the door stood Assault Automatons with a few gold platings

They held in their hand's automatic rifles that had drum barrels with open chambers that had visible Reverse Flauna circulating through them.

Beholding the sight of their guns I was confused. Earlier Tyvetta had told me that she and I, along with the Creatures, De l'effroi were the only ones able to use them.

Were these them? No, she would have told me if I would meet them here, and unlike how she acted rather serious when speaking their name — she was comfortable with these guys. So...

"Tyvetta, how come these guys can use Reverse Flauna? Are they the—"

"No!"

Interrupting my words with a shout, she seemed to have understood where I was going with that sentence and immediately stopped me.

Her sudden shout was out of nowhere, I hadn't expected that so when she did it I flinched and slid off the beast; luckily I was able to catch myself.

"Ah, sorry for scaring you, dear."

Seeing me flinch, she quickly calmed herself before apologizing.

"It-it's fi-fine, I was just a little startled."

I was a little scared at her shout, as she had only ever slightly raised her voice with enthusiasm, but I tried my best to hide it.

"Well, that's fine then. They aren't technically using it. I supply all the machinery and tools that rely on Reverse Flauna here myself."

Tyvetta chortled at my obvious attempt at hiding my fright as she explained the Flauna's origin while signaling to the Automatons to open the door.

One of them banged on the door multiple times before giving a thumbs up to the overhead camera — after which the door opened inward with the loud whistle of clicking gears.

The door opened to a tall and brightly lit hall with numerous pipes and wires lining the walls. On both sides of the road were walkways with rails that would prevent those walking from falling onto the said road.

With the path now open, we moved onto the road and walked, now accompanied by a Defense Automaton who instead of white; was coated a sleek sky blue.

I coughed at her incredible statement. She said that she supplies all of the Flauna here in this city, which could only be assumed to be impossibly big.

"You can manipulate that much Flauna all by yourself, all day every day?!"

Making my surprise apparent, I questioned her.

"Well, yes. I'm, after all, one of the very few beings able to utilize this wondrous source of power."

"That's not the point..."

That didn't answer the question of how she did such a feat, instead, she merely chuckled and once more focused on the path ahead of us.

Under that thought, I could only question what a lord was. Were they gods? But they don't seem omnipotent, nor does she act all-powerful.

Perhaps demi-gods then? No, they don't seem to have any relation with gods though, maybe, but they are called the "Archaic Lords".

And in all senses of the word, archaic simply means very old, then possibly our ancestors? I don't know but it seems like the most accurate theory.

At the current moment though, I didn't feel like asking her for clarification. I didn't want to straight out be told — I wanted to figure it out.

Not speaking anymore, we were now walking in silence, the rhythmic sound of steam and numerous other machines singing in our ears.

Soon after I could hear actual music enter my ears. It was coming from our intended destination and it was heavenly.

It was a song that made me want to sleep, but at the same time motivated me to stay awake and do something in a singular moment — it was hard to describe.

I closed my eyes, to further invest myself in the feel of the music before low humming began to escape my lips.

For a moment longer, I continued to sit and chill out with the peaceful music. Due to me already being calmed due to Tyvetta's music I couldn't feel it, but I could bet that this music would do the same.

"We're here, Veltae."

Calling out to me, Tyvetta broke me out of my silence as I opened my eyes to another large door appearing in front of us.

The Defense Automaton moved from my side and placed its hand on its center, after a few seconds the door began to slowly slide open.

After it began opening the Automaton quickly departed back the way we came, to which Tyvetta strode through the door.

When I first saw the door I was shocked, and left in silence; the moment it slid open I was left even more than slack-jawed.

The room was leaking a terrifyingly large amount of Reverse Flauna as it washed over me and overtook all my senses like a tidal wave.

I was visibly trembling with it completely dominating my body, it felt like a hostile takeover and I was choking on the air.

"Calm yourself!!"

Tyvetta yelled out in a commanding voice. Her yell caused the Reverse Flauna to shake and tremble before it quickly retracted into the room.

Huuu! Hah! Hah! — I hungrily took in massive loads of air, finally able to breathe again I took several loud gasps, trying to catch my breath.

"Are you alright?"

Full of worry she quickly came over to check on me and pulled me off of the beast and began rubbing her hand on my back.

After moments of me continuously gasping for breath I was finally able to somewhat calm myself.

"Y-es, yes, I'm fine. Wha-what was that, that, that Flauna, hah... it was trying to kill me."

I was too out of breath to fully emphasize my panic at that moment, only able to softly speak to her while gripping her wrist.

"I'm sorry... I didn't expect it to do that. It's my fault for not keeping it in check sooner, I'm sorry."

She hung her head low as she continued to apologize and blame herself for this.

"No...I-It's not your fault. Let's just continue, So that I can acquire this will of yours."

Trying my best to stop her from blaming herself, I felt her hand on my back slightly tense up from the situation.

"Alright."

Bobbing her head, Tyvetta got me up to my legs and supported me so that we could walk into the room — leaving the vast outside hall.

Once we entered the room I stared up in a lull, fully glimpsing the source of that voracious Reverse Flauna.

And what I could only reckon to is Tyvetta's will — extraordinary antiquity of an item that stretched to the top of the room.