The old man, the Mage King, rested his elbows on the armrests of his throne and looked at us with a grin.
　We could hear a faint motor-like sound coming from the arms of the machine, which gleamed like brass. Probably not audible to the everyman's ears, though.
　He was about seventy in age. He has a head of all-black gray hair and a pair of monocle [monocle] glasses in his eyes. The gold teeth could be seen from between the raised mouths.
　He was a stinky old man in appearance. I'm sure that the shamelessness is the result of an accumulated life.

"Are you the Mage King of Isengard?
How true. That's what people call it. The Mage King was originally the title given to the best masonry engineer in Isengard. It's been my name ever since I got it during my time as a prince, so it's mostly mine.

　Hee hee, being a king doesn't mean you're the king of magicians, does it?
　As usual, a look from behind the monocle is sent to me from behind the monocle as if it were to prize me. It's not a good feeling.

So?　What is in store for us in Isengard?　Lord Motizuki Toya.
How do you know my name?

　I raise an eyebrow at the words that come out of nowhere from the Mage King.
　There are few people in this world who know me. I don't think I know anyone in Isengard.
　The old man looks at me and lets out a grating laugh, "Kaka," he says.

I'm not as good as the Black Cat, but I have a good network of information. The boy who stopped the war between Primula and Triharan and placed a curse on the leaders of the Black Butterfly. He also used his giant golems to annihilate the army of golden monsters that had appeared in our country. I should thank you for this.

　Kukkuk, the Mage King laughs again with a shake in his throat. I'm starting to feel like a fool. It's not like I defeated a mutant for your country.

''Great wizard and owner of the giant golems. Where did you get that much power from in the ruins?

　The Mage King looks at me with probing eyes. You seem to have misunderstood something. Well, we won't get to the answer that I'm from another world.

It's a good thing that you're not the only one who's been in the same boat as me. It's a good thing that we've hurriedly applied the magic wards to this castle, but to no avail.
'No, no. It was effective enough to interfere with detection magic and transition magic. And thanks to that, we had a hard time getting here.

　Well, it's not much of a hardship. It's tricky because there's a halfway decent magic culture in this world as well. If it wasn't completely absent, it wouldn't be such a hardship.
　No, if I didn't have magic, let alone magical power, it would be a problem in reverse. I'm not going to be able to use magic myself.
　The Golem of the ancient aircraft unearthed from the ruins of the Golem itself is a piece of magical engineering, and I think that is what magic has created.
　I think that both the front world and the back world have the same basic cultural start.

I'm not sure.　What is it that brings you all the way up to my castle?
'To be blunt, I need you to stop the invasion of the Galdio Empire.
'Galdio can give the 'Green Ruins' to Isengard. I called to Galdio many times beforehand. When I did not receive a positive response, I decided to take it by force.

　Ancient ruins are a treasure trove where various excavations are found. It's not something that one country can hand over easily. But that's not the only reason, I also think that Emperor Galdio didn't want to hand over the land of Leve, the birthplace of his son, to Isengard.

''What's in the 'Green Ruins'?　A powerful golem?
"A powerful golem......... It's not far from the mark. Do you know about the Ancient Golem War?

　Leaning back on his throne, the old Mage King's old man crossed his fingers on his stomach.

''Well it was the war that led to the destruction of this world once, wasn't it?　Aren't the golems that were sent to that war being excavated today as the ancient aircraft, the "Legacy"?
Ha. You didn't learn your lesson. To be precise, the golems that were 'not driven out' have been excavated. You see, ancient ruins are mainly golems' manufacturing plants, important facilities and laboratories. For this reason, the golems that were there are almost unharmed in their sleep.

　The Mage King took a cigar from his chest pocket and cut the end of it with the blade that came from the machine's fingers. He held the cut end in his mouth and ignited it with a small fire like a lighter lit on his thumb on the other side. Handy, that arm. It seems to have various gimmicks built into it.
　Puffing out a puff of purple smoke, the Mage King continued his story.

At the end of the war, every country was developing a weapon that could end the war. Some countries developed huge cannons. One country made a fortress that floats in the sky. Others with bombs that could wipe out cities. However, these so-called decisive weapons of war have never been discovered, only appearing in ancient documents. I, too, used to think it was a nonsensical fairy tale.
No way....

　The Mage King grins at me.

Yeah. Yes, the decisive battle weapon is real. I have found it. I've found it," he says, "and it's the crystallization of knowledge from ancient civilizations. I call it the Hecaton Cale.

　Hecaton Cale...?　Had you already found what you were after?　Then why are you trying to get your hands on the Ruins of Green?

Guess I'll just have to treat him right. We'll have to treat him properly.

　When the old man knocked down the lever on the armrest, the entire room we were in vibrated loudly and slowly began to drop.

''Heh, the room is sinking, that it is!
''Fuyao-sama, this is...!

　The whole room is an elevator!　The throne room goes down and down and down and down to what is probably the basement, and then it stops moving again with a bang and a vibration.

''What is this place...?

　The place was so large that you couldn't see all the way to the other side (even though it was sometimes dimly lit there), and it was indeed a secret factory. We could also see several working golems.
　And in front of us, a heavy metal object of misfortune with brass-colored trimmings on black steel was lit up in front of us.

''Is this........a golem?''

　Perhaps it is the head of a golem. It's too big to judge. Only the head is sticking out of the floor. The body seems to be underground rather than under the feet.
　Anyway, it's big. The lighting was so dim that I couldn't see the whole thing from this position. I could have seen it if I had used the God's Eye at this time, but the idea of using it had completely slipped my mind.
　The evil demonic head had two twisted horns extending out and several hemispheres lined up on either side. Perhaps because the hemispheres were horizontally lined, it appeared as if countless eyes were closed.
　Furthermore, there was only one large hemisphere on the part that hit the forehead. It's like a third eye.

''This is Hecaton Cale...?
'Yes. Isengard was originally the land of the guardians who kept Hecatongkale locked away. At some point I forgot about its role and even the existence of the Hecatong Cale. If I hadn't found it, it would have continued to sleep underground for years.

　A leftover from the war that once destroyed the world. I didn't know such a thing was sealed in the basement of Isengard.
　This is like an advanced species of Freys. No, it's only man-made, this one is worse. It's a killing weapon made for the sole purpose of destroying the enemy.

I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make it work. However, the Q Crystal is not yet complete in this Hecaton Cale. So a substitute was needed, but no matter what Golem's Q Crystal was used, Hecatong Cale would not awaken. It took me thirty years to come up with the answer.

　The Mage King stepped in front of Hecatoncale and slid his mechanical fingers over the console that protruded from the floor. With a small electronic beeping sound, the hemispheres lined up on Hecatoncale's head opened up and down.

''This is...!

　It was as if the eyelids were opened, and there floated what looked like a human brain connected to a tube.
　Like a formalin-soaked specimen, a crystal-clear brain, or rather, an imitation of it, floated in an emerald-green water solution.
　It looked like a chunk of crystal carved into the shape of a brain at a sharp angle. The part of the brain that looks like a wrinkle is carved like some kind of circuit. That must be Golem's "Q Crystal" brain.
　They were lined up on either side at the back of the transparent glass. Even though I knew they were made, I couldn't deny the eerie feeling.

With fifty Q crystals, this thing can finally be controlled. This isn't just any Q crystal. This is not just any Q crystal, this is a high quality Q crystal extracted from a high level ancient aircraft, the Legacy. But even after we've come this far, we can't eliminate the danger of it going out of control, and we're still missing one important thing.

　Even in the dimness of the bonfire, I could see that the Mage King smiled eerily.

'Golems are powered by light and magic. It's the same with Hecaton Cale, who uses it as a catalyst to drive his demonic motive. But in order to put fire into this guy's magic motive, a lot of magic power is needed. It was ten years ago that we found out that the magic tool, the artifact that creates it, is located in the land of Leve.
Ten years ago......... Then the real reason for the invasion of the Rêve Kingdom is...!
Oh, yeah. The reason for this is to get the artifact. I also recovered the Q-Crystal from the Beast Emperor's plane that I defeated and used it on Hecaton Cale. However, the artifact was never found in the Ruins of Blue.

　It was probably just the uncertain information that it was in the land of Rave and not necessarily in the Ruins of Blue.
　At that time, a new 'Green Ruins' was discovered. Isengard........no, as a Mage King, it's not surprising that he would really want to get his hands on it.

''What are you going to do by moving these things?　Are you trying to take over the world?
'World domination?　Nonsense. All I want to do is prove that I'm a being that has reached heights far beyond the ancient wizardry. Don't you think that a foolish person inheriting a great legacy will only serve to corrupt it for nothing?　This is all for me to master the ancient art of witchcraft. I won't let anyone get in my way.

　The Magician King's cloudy gaze shines in the depths of his monocle. The light was blazing with insanity, blazing with madness, ready to burn out everything that stood in its way.

''Just like Nia said, he seems to be a very crazy old man.
Kaka. There's something wrong with every human being. Most people just don't know it. You think you're the only one who's sane. You say I'm crazy, but from my point of view, you're the ones who are crazy.

　Kukkuk, and another throaty chuckle from the old Mage King's grandfather as he laughs like a fool.
　I've been taught by my grandfather that old people should be labored over, but I can't very well be in the mood for this old man.

''Well it looks like there's no room for discussion. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to turn this nasty antique into iron scrap. It's too dangerous to put to good use.
Do you think I'd let you do that?　What do you think I've gone to the trouble of bringing you here for all that long talk?
...what?

　Suddenly, a glassy tube appears around me from the floor and ceiling, and in a flash, I am sealed in. Instantly, a sensation of power escaping from my body hits me, and I can't help but stand up and crouch down.
　

''Fuyao-dono!
Lady Winter's Night!

　The eight layers of swords and Hilda's sword were pulled out and released, cutting the glass tube surrounding me to pieces.
　Despite the fact that the event lasted only a few seconds, nearly forty percent of my total magic power had been taken away. If it were a normal person, my magic power would have been depleted long ago, and if it was poorly done, I might have died. Perhaps it's because it was pulled out in one fell swoop, but I still feel a little light-headed.

''Kukuku, kahahahahahaha!　You're just as magical as I thought!　That's more than enough magic to set fire to Hecaton Cale's furnace!　Let's take it all back!
What the...!

　Even with my wobbly head, I knew that the old bastard was after me. From the beginning, that old man had been aiming at my magic power. To activate Hecaton Cale's magic motive.
　This old man used me as an Artifact in place of a magic tool, an Artifact.

''You!''

　Yae jumped into the Magician King's bosom with the swiftness of lightning and slashed the machine's right arm off his elbow.
　Hilda was about to charge in next, when the unbelievable happened.
　The Magician King's mouth was ripped up and down. His jaw dropped twenty centimeters and he fired a muzzle or several bullets that extended from the back of his mouth at us.

The first thing that comes to mind is the fact that it's not the same as the first time.　[S.H.I.E.L.D.]

　The invisible shield I deployed flicked the rain of incoming bullets.
　Then, this time the old man's back is ripped open, and a number of serpentine arms extend from under his clothes. A sharp blade was attached to its tip.

''You are turning your whole body into a machine, that you are!
''No, no!　This is Gholem!　It's an anthropomorphic golem!

　Anthropomorphic. Golems that move exactly like people. My Golems, Ruby, Saffa and Emera are also in the Anthropomorphic type. Engineer Erca said it's rare to find a human-like mimic, but I didn't know this old man was a golem!
　Yae and Hilda slashed down the arms of the machines wielded in every direction, one after another. The combat power of the anthropomorphic form is never high. To blend in with people. This is because their abilities are concentrated on that one point.

''Phew!''
"Ha!

　An eight-fold sword flash sliced off the head of the Demonworker King Golem, and Hilda sliced the remaining torso in one swipe into a karatake split.
　With a rattle, the parts inside his body were snapped around, and Solle, who was the Demon Craftsman King, collapsed to the spot.

''I didn't think it was Golem...''

　But... what does that mean?　Was the Mage King originally a golem?　Or, someone made up a fake Magician King......... No, that doesn't explain it.........
　As I was thinking about it, gogogogog........!　And then there was a loud rumbling of the earth, and everything in the factory began to clatter and shake. Earthquake........not!

"Kaka-kaka!　It's great! It's great!　My whole body will be filled with energy and all my senses will be sharp!　I have surpassed all humanity!

　The Marauder King's voice echoes through the factory. 'Where are you!

'And Fuyu-dono!　That one!　

　Yae pointed to the destination, the head of the disastrous Hecaton Cale - the hemispherical part on its forehead, opened up and down.
　What was there was a human──brain floating in an emerald green water solution, just like the other Q crystals, the human──brain.