“Welcome, my knight. My page. I welcome you to this world.”

Silver tools, black and white documents, magic characters floating in the air.

The image of its master smiling and reaching out to it at the center of it all.

That was the first scene the White Knight perceived when it was born into this world.

The White Knight was excellent.

Its body was strong, its athletic ability was outstanding, and the amount of mana it could hold, as well as its judgment and calculation abilities, were more prominent than any other magic doll around it.

The White Knight’s artificial soul judged that there was no magic doll with better performance than itself.

But this was not something to be proud of.

It was closer to being a laughing stock.

The reason was clear.

The power it possessed was definitely not given without a price.

Unlike the vigorous activities during the early days of the magic tower’s construction, as time passed, the Witch of the North rarely showed herself publicly.

This was also true for mentee training. While just a hundred years ago, the Witch of the North’s top mentees led innovation and prosperity in the tower from active positions, in the current era, most of them had either died or retired.

When rumors spread that this Witch of the North had produced a new top mentee for the first time in decades, and even added the evaluation that she was the most outstanding child she had ever taught, the reaction of the four towers was nothing short of ecstatic.

“Protection” was excited about her dexterity and creativity in crafting and developing various magic tools.

“Foresight” coveted her intelligence, having mastered numerous ancient languages and magic characters at a young age.

“Annihilation” marveled at her sense of skillfully utilizing enchantment magic, which was not originally suited for combat.

Even “Control” tried to break their own bloodline principle and grant the girl a new surname, such was the gem-like quality of the girl’s talent.

To the invitations from the four towers asking her to join them, the girl chose the Tower of Protection.

And when asked for the reason by the head of the Tower of Protection, she answered like this, “Because it seemed like the best for pursuing the creation of magic dolls.”

The head of the Tower of Protection was taken aback.

It was true that the Magic Country used magic dolls more frequently compared to other countries, but that was only because magic dolls were easy to handle and had decent performance.

While it might be understandable for inexperienced beginners or mid-level mages who had reached their growth limit, for a genius with such outstanding talent as the girl, it wasn’t particularly suitable to use as a familiar.

Of course, the head of the Tower of Protection didn’t voice this opinion to spoil the mood.

The Tower of Protection itself had some symbolism as the place where artificial souls were first created, and it would have been troublesome if the girl decided to go to another tower because of some negative comments.

However, the girl’s actions far exceeded everyone’s expectations.

The girl not only collected all the materials available in the Tower of Protection but also reached out to other towers, even other countries if necessary.

In the process, she didn’t hesitate to act as a mercenary to fulfill requests or sell the rights to magic she had developed.

People whispered that it was the eccentricity of a crazy genius.

Some mocked her, saying it was the play of a child obsessed with dolls.

There were not a few who were indignant, asking if she had no pride as a mage, or clicked their tongues, saying she was tarnishing the name of the Witch of the North.

Suspicion, derision, contempt, and rare goodwill and support.

In the midst of this complex whirlpool, the White Knight was given life.

And with its excellent performance, it recognized the things the girl had given up to create it.

An artificial soul born not long ago was almost like an incarnation of rationality and logic.

The White Knight judged that its master’s actions were irrational.

Certainly, its performance was excellent, but it didn’t think it was worth its master putting in this much effort.

— Don’t worry about what others say, Sigurd—no, Sig. You definitely have that much value.

— You’ll become a hero that goes down in history. I’ll make it so. When that happens, they’ll all flip their palms, won’t they?

Seeing its master laugh proudly while saying this, something in the White Knight’s chest trembled.

But the immature soul couldn’t understand the identity of this ripple.

All it could do, unable to even offer clumsy words of oath, was to calmly fulfill its reason for existence.

As one blessed with performance superior to any other magic doll—it showed achievements worthy of its performance.

The White Knight didn’t think this was a particularly difficult task.

The Tower of Protection, close to the pinnacle in the field of magic dolls.

It was the result of not only gathering their latest technology but also freely pouring in knowledge from other towers.

Its calculation ability judged that it had performance that wouldn’t lose even against top-tier spirits, let alone other magic dolls.

Therefore.

The competition and defeat that occurred in Tik-Tok was “impossible” for the White Knight.

Even if it wasn’t a life-and-death struggle with real swords, but merely a competition of skills, that wasn’t an excuse.

The opponent was an old and outdated doll.

In strength, speed, toughness, mana quantity, output, there was nothing in which the White Knight was inferior to the Tin Knight.

The only thing it fell behind in was one.

The skill of the soul handling the body.

The White Knight became aware of the emotion of frustration for the first time.

The fact that it wasn’t simply overwhelmed by his performance, but by his skill, gave it an even greater sense of defeat.

After all, it had received power superior to anyone else from its master, but it lost because it couldn’t use it properly.

The White Knight dreamed of a rematch, and that dream came true.

This time, it wouldn’t lose.

This time, it wouldn’t be like before, the White Knight burned with fighting spirit.

Not just to follow its master’s orders, but to offer victory to its master by its own will.

***

Clang! Clang! Clang clang clang!

A gale whirled, slashing the surroundings like a blade.

The ground howled, creating intense vibrations as if trying to withstand the shock.

This happened just from the two knights clashing their weapons, without any special magic or massive natural phenomena.

The two knights, who had already reached superhuman levels even when they were just exchanging blows while checking each other at first, started to look like human-shaped disasters once they began fighting in earnest, drawing out their mana.

Boom!

When the White Knight thrust its spear with all its might, a long hole appeared in the stone audience seats along its trajectory.

Crack!

When the Tin Knight stepped forward, small craters formed around him.

In the time it took an ordinary person to exhale once, dozens of checks, attacks, and defenses were exchanged, and the sparks flying from their clashing weapons and the remnants of overflowing sword energy mixed to create complex colors.

Even this was minimized because the Tin Knight deflected the White Knight’s direct and powerful attacks with softness, but when they occasionally clashed strength against strength, a roar echoed as if a cannon had been fired right next to them.

The faint-hearted curled up and trembled, and even those who weren’t found it difficult to properly perceive what was happening due to the high level of the duel.

Among the audience, only Adelaide was at a level where she could properly perceive the duel between the two knights.

Not only Sir Knight, but the opponent is really strong too.

Having fought various types of magic dolls in Tik-Tok, Adelaide had a rough understanding of the level of ordinary magic dolls.

They were at a level where they could fight evenly with knights who handled sword energy, but skilled individuals at the level of Lennart’s elites could subdue them without much difficulty.

In that sense, the White Knight’s strength was so different that it was hard to believe it was also a magic doll.

It easily surpassed even the representative instructors of the Lennart dojos Adelaide had met so far, and even compared to Kalidahs, it was difficult to say who was stronger.

At first glance, it seemed like it was just swinging with strength and momentum, but its attacks were nothing short of frightening, performing precise calculations to strike at weak points with the shortest distance possible.

But even so, the Tin Knight was the Tin Knight.

Slash!

Although the fight seemed even at a glance, as the fierce exchanges continued, the wounds on the White Knight’s body increased.

The metal forming the White Knight’s body itself seemed to be extraordinary, as the traces were shallow compared to the power of the attacks, but it was in contrast to the Tin Knight who hadn’t received a single proper wound.

If the fight continued like this, the Tin Knight would easily grasp victory.

That was right.

If the fight continued like this, that was.

Clang!

Hit by a widely swung spear, the Tin Knight was sent flying backward.

Although he blocked the attack itself with his shield and suffered no particular injury, the problem was that the gap he had managed to close was widened again.

As if not to miss this opening, the White Knight’s spear was swung repeatedly, emitting massive mana.

Bang! Boom! Boom!

With each strike like a shell, the Tin Knight’s body was pushed back repeatedly.

Adelaide immediately noticed a certain fact.

Sir Knight is gradually reducing his mana usage.

It wasn’t that the Tin Knight had used more mana than the White Knight and ran out of fuel…

The Tin Knight’s mana manipulation was at a truly transcendent level, so even while exchanging blows evenly and occasionally succeeding in attacks to gain the upper hand, the amount of mana he consumed was far less than the White Knight’s.

Yet, the White Knight continued to use mana without change, while the Tin Knight entered pace control for a simple reason.

Remote mana supply.

The Tin Knight, an old-fashioned magic doll, needed his master to directly contact him and infuse mana each time he needed to replenish, but the White Knight, infused with the latest technology, could receive as much mana as it needed while remaining separate from its master.

Since the two knights had no connection to physical fatigue or stamina consumption to begin with, if we had to say, the remaining mana could be seen as substituting for stamina.

It was a situation where in a sports competition, one side had to be mindful of pace distribution, while the other could ignore such things and always exert full power.

Originally, there should have been a chicken race to see whether the Tin Knight’s remaining mana or the White Knight’s injuries would reach their limit first, but there was a girl here who didn’t want that kind of resolution.

The girl in white, Gale Elilaz, took her position behind the White Knight and shouted, “A mage and familiar are originally a pair! This time, let’s compare which side’s breathing matches better!”

[Superhuman Strength]

[Acceleration]

[Solidity]

The moment the magic characters left Gale’s hand and seeped into the White Knight’s body, the White Knight’s body dashed at a speed incomparable to before.

Crack!

For the first time, the Tin Knight’s defense, which had been unwavering throughout, was breached, and his side was carved out as if bitten by a beast.

But far from being flustered, the Tin Knight rather lit up his will-o’-wisp-like eye light, as if finding it interesting.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ cheers, asking if it’s time for the enhancement phase!]

“Is this the time to be happy!?” Dorothea screamed.

She wanted to run to the Tin Knight and pour mana into him, but it was all too clear that if she did such a thing in front of the White Knight, she would be skewered by that long spear.

No matter how good the Tin Knight was at defense, fighting with Dorothea right behind his back would be an enormous penalty.

She could rely on defensive magic and charge in, but it was too uncertain a gamble to withstand attacks that could even blow away the Tin Knight.

Of course, that didn’t mean there was no way.

As a necromancer, Dorothea had almost no means to directly enhance the Tin Knight like an enchantress, but if she didn’t have to worry about Gale’s interference, there were plenty of other things she could do.

Her blue eyes gleamed ominously.

Taking out a dagger, she unhesitatingly cut her palm.

The overflowing blood flowed to the ground, and the remains of the corpses that had been shattered by Gale gathered around Dorothea.

The form completed by the gathering of blood, mana, corpses, and curses in one place was as bizarre as if several beasts had been stitched together like rags, but the aura it emitted was incomparable to anything before.

It couldn’t be helped.

Usually, Dorothea prioritized convenience and speed, roughly glossing over most of the procedures that necromancy should go through with her massive mana, but not this time.

“Spirits who have lost their will, lost their place to return, and even lost their names. I’ll give you a new purpose, I’ll give you new kin, I’ll give you new names. So follow me. So obey me.”

Gently as if coaxing, but with arrogance as if this side was unquestionably superior.

The necromancer, the witch, Dorothea declared, “Rise, Jabberwock.” 1

Footnotes

1. 1. TL Note: Jabberwock is the monster mentioned in the poem Jabberwocky which is the sequel to Alice's Adventure in Wonderland

***

https://ko-fi.com/genesisforsaken