IV.

A loud voice called over the commotion, and judging by Audrey's appearance she heard it too. The rumbling seemed like it shook the whole mountain, and Madoka was worried that the capital itself could fall should they continue to interfere down here. And the Vale Bá itself has not yet appeared.

"So, that," Audrey pointed at the metal branch that said Emergency Valve. "Seems to be some kind of drainage system. But the voice kind of reminds me of something."

Both of them looked at each other and sighed at the same time as they uttered the same phrase together. "We're in a Hall of the Frost Queen situation."

"At least, you can use Knotting magic now, right?" Madoka offered. Audrey did not answer; she still had her eyes fixed on the symbols.

"Yeah," Audrey said. "I still can't read any of those symbols. And the voice— I heard it speak in Royal."

Madoka figured that would be the case. She, on the other hand, had heard it speak to her in Sixth Form. That mysterious language belonged to the Humans, yet, Audrey herself had not been able to speak it. Perhaps what she said about humans awhile ago was true. Those ones aboard the Uracksheegal were from a different timeline entirely. In situations like this, the princess had a wealth of knowledge that clearly did not belong to any young girl— a creeping doubt that Madoka had in her heart ever since she met her.

Now, she had no idea what to think of herself and her princess. The rumbling had quieted down, but there was a clear disturbance in this underground world. Madoka had to let go of this doubt once again and solve the main mystery at hand: Finding the Vale Bá and slaying it.

"Oh, sing! The pretty has come to free us so that we can sing!"

"Not exactly," she muttered.

"Well, I've never worked a single job in my whole life, but according to that voice, we're Servants of the Holy One," Audrey spoke. "But I thought you were the Holy One."

"Audrey," Madoka whined. She would not dare to claim such a title, even if they were floating above a rusted metal structure of unknown origins.

Audrey sighed. She was watching more of those black bat-like creatures screeching around one of the strings of the Harp. They were agitated, beating their wings around their hunting grounds. Her eyes traveled below the crowd of angry beasts, deeper in the fog where the glowing sun was hiding within.

"It said basin, too," she pointed at it. "Kind of sounds like we're going to be flushing waste of some kind down a toilet."

The word "toilet" registered in her mind, and its meaning meant something foul. Madoka scrunched her nose. Was she serious? Was the voice making them clean such filth in the middle of this dangerous place? Audrey was rambling to herself, complaining about something.

"Come down and cleanse us, O servant, so that we can sing!"

"… Where the hell is the city's Utilities Department? I got a lotta complaints about this whole setup! What kind of government builds a city on a ticking time bomb like this?"

"Audrey," Madoka tried to steer her back on track. "It seems like we are going to have to go down there."

The girl stopped her complaining and straightened up. "Right, straight into the fog where the murder tractor sized flowers are."

"I'll cut any that get in the way," Madoka growled. She thought of the human rifles and pistol in the storage talisman. She decided to take one of them out and strapped it to her hip. "Or shoot them."

"We're going to have to search for a mechanism down there, as for the fog," Audrey raised her hand and Madoka felt a chill in the air. Kind gods, she was preparing to launch an enormous amount of magic!

"Audrey!" Madoka did not have enough time to stop her, and was pushed back by an immense force. If it was not for the barrier from her Crystal somehow providing resistance, she probably would have been sent flying into the cavern walls.

Instead, the entire atmosphere around them became illuminated by a brilliant emerald light. A tornado billowed out of Audrey's hands, striking downward like an enormous jade dragon descending from the heavens. The fog had dispersed in its wake, while creatures and roots alike were swallowed whole by her power.

Unfortunately for Madoka, the magic was not coming from the Celestial but instead coming from the tiny girl in front of her. She could only witness the destruction from behind her. She had faced this magic before during their mock battle at the Leyline, but it was far more powerful than before they left that awful place. Audrey did not seem to have a limit to her strength, nor did that ominous black core or hers appear. Destruction and tenderness— both came from the same palm, a lesson of fear and awe for Madoka to see firsthand.

The tornado swept aside the fog, and through it Madoka could see faint outlines of more of those metal structures jutting out from below the massive Harp structure. She looked up, finding this entire area strange. A massive root network coiled in the mountain rock above her head and an enormous machine buried inside of it. She saw more of the Harp as well. At its "neck" were several pillars, each as thick as a castle, jutting upward into the ceiling. She presumed they were acting as supports.

Each of those pillars were coated in nature's debris, probably hosting thousands of creatures. Madoka could not bring herself to call them Monsters. To her, watching Audrey carry her macabre work made her feel like they were the true monsters. Did the Sovos know of this place's existence? Or were they truly in another Secret Garden?

The Harp's column, a part she recalled that was the furthest from the shoulder, stretched endlessly downward. It was completely covered in woody tendrils and vines. Still, now that the fog was clearing, she could see a faint blue energy pulsing through some cracks in the wood beneath it. Eventually, looking down directly made her feel woozy, but the fog was now gone. The tornado ceased existing, ending its reign of terror.

"Job done!" Audrey clapped her glowing hands. Madoka could see the traces of Wind magic misting her skin. "Now, that's interesting. There's more of those big valves all over the Harp. And not only that, there's…"

Madoka was not listening to Her Highness. She was staring directly at the very bottom of the pit. The destroyed environment that fell from Audrey's strike was now sinking into a massive pit of mud below. But even in the mud, there was still life teeming down there. She could see strange plant vines coming from patches of solid ground floating on the mud pit, grabbing whatever they could get before the matter sank into the mire.

"Holy shit," Audrey exclaimed. She was pointing to somewhere. She realized that the princess was already descending, weaving through broken vines and tangled metal roots. "Madoka, that spot over there— don't it look like an eye?"

"Careful! W-Wait up!"

Madoka could not see what Audrey was pointing at clearly, so she reluctantly flew down to where the princess was hovering. Then she saw it. Through a curtain of Knotting strands racing like a waterfall towards the bottom, she could see the muddy pit bulged outward in a mound a distance away from the Harp's base. It was a glowing sphere of some sort, buried beneath the ground and hidden.

How did she miss such a colossal thing? And this overwhelming feeling! She realized that the glowing sphere beneath the mud was the source of her anxiety. It was watching them.

"That— That's not the Vale Bá is it?"

"I hope not," Madoka started to worry, but a violent rumbling filled the room followed by the mountain's voice again.

「Warning. Weather pattern has experienced a severe change. The Harmosis Harp Minor awaits a conductor.

Central Breathing System is deactivated. Status: Calamitous.

Servants of the Holy One, make your way to the terminal at the Pnaumic Harp Basin and direct the Life Song. Failure to do so will result in system collapse.」

"What the hell does any of that mean?" Audrey shouted. "It would be nice if they weren't so vague and made sense for once! And it smells like… ew!"

The place was eerily quiet, and indeed the warm air smelled like strong earth. Madoka breathed it in, finding the earthy scent quite pleasant to her nose. She wanted to gulp another mouthful of it, but stopped after seeing Her Disturbedness's face.

Still, this musky and dirty smell polluting the entire cavern was entirely because of Audrey's unscrupulous and insane magic, was it not? Madoka sighed. She could only hope and pray that the massive eye was not the Vale Bá buried below. Fighting such a large beast would probably cause untold damage to Ceghinortan. But Madoka found that it was also silent. There were no thoughts coming from it; the thing exhibited no signs of life other than its blank golden stare. Knotting Magic clung to it, with chain-link strands slipping through cracks of the disturbed muddy grounds.

"It means we go down," Madoka gripped her axe. "We need to find that… terminal."

This time, she swooped down first, swinging Magnolia II and smashing through an Elwatcher flower that was quietly sneaking up on Audrey. The girl shrieked and took off after her.

Their movements seemed to have awakened the entire place, causing beasts to come flying out after them. It seemed like they were going to be extremely busy while searching for that terminal.

"Well," Audrey called over unleashing several Wind blades at a group of strange flying creatures. She had summoned her familiar barrier around them. "At least we don't have to worry about platforming anymore like we did in the Frost Queen mountain. You remember those janky lifts and crazy caverns?"

"Audrey," Madoka growled. "Now is not the time to reminisce!"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Another pack of strange striped flying beasts had snuck up behind her, only to meet their doom against Audrey's barrier, getting zapped to pieces. The explosion of black blood showered the shield, but dissolved with a loud hissing sound and assaulted her nose with a putrid stench. Seeing that the two of them were not easy prey, Madoka's head became full of fear. The swarm of bat-creatures and the striped beasts flew away screaming. Oddly enough, she could not detect their primitive thoughts anymore. Madoka realized they were regrouping and forming a black cloud.

"They're getting ready to swarm us," Madoka warned Audrey. She was prepared to unleash the Crystal, but the princess nodded.

"It's time for the One Wave Trick!"

Madoka did not even want to know what that meant, so she quickly backed out of the way. Audrey scanned the tidal wave of monsters, then her core flared to life. Thousands of high pitched screaming and shadows descended upon them, but the princess made her move. Another wave of wind formed before them in a wide arc, engulfing everything in a veil of sickening green light.

"Sing, sing, sing, pretty, your hearts swell with resonation!"

The creatures were cut like dark grass as if the moon, splitting into thousands of points of light all around her. Audrey's violent vortex of wind thundered, tearing a terrifying hole in each of the creatures. Pieces of their bodies rained down into the muddy pit below, splotching the brown earth like ink stains on an ancient scroll.

Madoka scanned through the Wind magic at the supposed Basin. The massive shadow of black creatures had a clear hole in it for her to see though. Audrey's magic faded once the crowd dispersed momentarily. Then, an even greater swarm filtered through tiny burrows in the walls of the harp and the surrounding cave.

"Tsk," Audrey gritted her teeth. "I clear the board, then more show up."

Madoka scanned for any peculiarities in the Angel's Harp itself. Desperation and the need to stop Her Destructiveness from destroying the entire mountain from within built up within her. Then she saw it.

"There!" She pointed to a destroyed hole in the surface of the Harp's foot. Knotting magic flowed directly to it, like water through a sieve.

Audrey gave a look to Madoka, then nodded in a silent agreement. That must be where the terminal that voice was talking about was. They swooped down, through the nasty smell of the wind and unfortunate creatures that got in the way of Audrey's barrier.

Madoka flew in first, tumbling on a hard surface. She found that the inside was cold metal instead of the overgrown messy nature outside. Audrey unleashed another Wind Blade, cleaving hundreds more before flying straight into Madoka.

"Waah—" She grunted, but was muffled by Madoka's cloak and the loud beating of her heart.

Knotting magic jolted across the cold floor and the torn up wall they crashed through. Madoka moved Audrey aside and pulled the strands up, like ripping strings off a harp. The golden strands reacted to her will, and with a loud hum, they transformed into gleaming metal. The hole was patched, leaving them ready to face the room.

"Whew, that was close," Audrey said, looking behind her.

Madoka turned and saw a huge window that covered the entire wall opposite to them. This room was circular, like the rest of this towering metal monstrosity. Pale golden light filtered in, presumably from the glowing metal eye outside. The carnage from Audrey's magic also pelted the window as more black pieces of those ripped up flying beasts and other debris rained from above.

"This place…" Madoka struggled to find the words. She ran her thoughts across this cramped space, but found nothing lurking inside. "It seems like it was built a long time ago."

"Yeah, I think this place was built by the ancients." Audrey moved towards the window, watching the bodies splash into the mud.

"Those ones who came before," Madoka mused.

A striped beast suddenly slammed against the window, making Audrey shriek and jump back. Thankfully, it was not able to get through, despite its screaming tantrum taking place on the other side. Madoka tried to pierce through its mind for any thoughts or useful visions, but found nothing. This thing either did not have a mind, or perhaps was keeping its head incredibly quiet. The creature bounded back a short distance, preparing to ram the window, but a massive Elwatcher tentacle crashed into it from above, sending it down into the muddy water before it could make a move.

"Phew. Who knows if this glass pane can survive a smack for too long." Audrey breathed a sigh of relief. "Hey, so… You sure you haven't gotten any XP from the sheer amount of stuff we killed? God. Eho knew that the whole jungle wanted to eat us, huh. Did you level up recently? Feeling any stronger than before? No? What's with that look?"

Madoka just gave her a blank stare. She wondered what was going on in that pretty head of hers. Audrey shrugged. Then her eyes were once again focused on something else. Madoka turned and noticed an altar mounted to the wall behind them.

"Hey, that's the terminal!"

Madoka and Audrey scrambled towards it.

The altar stood like a memorial column, devoid of activity and showed no reaction to their presence. There was not any buttons on it, nor anything that suggested life within it. Audrey moved to smack it, but Madoka seized her wrist before she could inevitably cause trouble.

"Don't touch anything," Madoka snapped in an arrogant tone that surprised herself. Audrey did not hear it, but stopped anyways. Where did that come from? The fog outside seemed to be replaced by the dark shadows of the swarming beasts.

"Hmm, we've ran into one of these a long time ago in the mountain, didn't we?" Audrey muttered. "You used Knotting magic before we even knew it was a thing to connect it to the… Poisonous gas tubes."

"Right," Madoka searched the room for a gathering of Knotting magic tangled somewhere, but she realized she could just use the vast reserves of her Crystal. She did not recall any altar in the Hall of the Frost Queen, or she simply could not remember it. She was instead reminded of the altar in Truth Guild's Secret Garden, which pulsed with those Pnaumic runes.

Heh, she chuckled. The hole that she plugged still held up, gleaming from the pure white strands of lightning bolts and her wings still had power in them. The fact that they were not just golden strands meant they had undergone significant changes. Perhaps she did level up in a way. If this is the case, then she shall just use herself.

Madoka reached into her chest, imagining a chain. The magic jolted inside of her, shocking her as she drew it into a chain. With that, she hooked it to the altar. As soon as she touched the smooth stone, an even more intense electrical shock lanced through her. She gasped, clutching her chest.

"Madoka?"

Hands held her up. A pleasant vibration emanated from the princess's hand as she steadied Madoka, transferring Knotting Magic to her. But she could not open her mouth. Her throat had a bubbling well stifling her. A new voice, deep and metallic, exploded against her ear drums.

「 ACCESS GRANTED. SERVANT OF THE HOLY ONE— YOUR BLOOD OFFERING SHALL SUFFICE. THE ANGEL WILL NOW BEGIN PLAYING THE HARP.」

Chaos rocked the room, and the hands holding her up wobbled. Madoka remained rooted to the spot, struggling for air. The wall behind the altar opened up like a mouth, revealing the commotion outside. Audrey was saying something, but she could no longer hear her. The ground shook with tremendous pressure, and the wind began to pick up. In addition to the heavy amount of bodies scattering down to the pit, huge shadows whirred above her, causing the light to flicker rapidly. She looked up.

Several of "metal branches" were now spinning around the Harp's spire, like massive fan blades. They smashed mercilessly into the swarming beasts, instantly turning them into black mist, then nothing as if they were never there to begin with. Madoka's throat clenched. A drowning suffocation was quickly seizing her. She could not breathe! She smacked her chest, and exerted as much as she could out of her lungs. A desperate grunt escaped her along with tears from her eyes. A stream of harsh bile expelled from her mouth.

No, to Madoka's horror, she realized she was hurling up a stream of golden and white twisting light. It felt like she swallowed thorns and was trying to spit them back out. The light bounced off the spinning turbines above her head uselessly. She gasped in horror, as she steadied herself on the altar, only to let out another mouthful of golden rays out that scarred the altar's surface a and zapped her hand.

Was she breathing pure Knotting magic?

Madoka refrained from saying anything or breathing, only scanning the mountain walls and metal roots before her for anything she could use her breath on. She noticed that the chain from her chest was still tethered to the altar, which in turn, had to be the reason for this new uncomfortable ability. So she waited. What was she supposed to sing? And how?

More machinery clanged above her. The Harp was transforming, pulsing with blue light beneath layers of plant overgrowth as the fans began to spin violently. They smashed aside rock and root debris alike, with no sign of stopping. The deafening noise struck her from all sides, but a piercing hiss screamed out above her. Three hatches freed themselves from the bark covering them, and massive black mechanical arms extended out of them. They were lowering straight to her. Madoka shouted for the princess to do something, and braced herself for an attack.

「Pnaumic Harp Cleansing Ritual has been initiated. Structural Integrity Status: Dormant.

First phase: Repairing Sequence initiated. Servant of the Holy One, prepare to sing the Song of Raising and follow the Conductor's Chorus. 」

The Arms stopped right in front of the room, under the lowest metal fan. Black metal plates slid from the rooms the three Arms extended out of and were caught by them. Madoka had a bad feeling about this. There was a rune on each one of the plate, ready to glow.

A cold surge of magic formed behind her. The princess was defending her, though the look on her face seemed to match her own, locked in a state of panic and confusion. The world suddenly quieted down. Even as an Elwatcher's massive face appeared and was ripped apart by Audrey's Wind magic, Madoka heard nothing.

Then, a haunting melody played from the heavens above her. The Harp was playing! The runes were notes, and were beginning to glow. One flashed a green light, catching her eye. A high note? Madoka braced herself, preparing for the terrible feeling that this new breathing gave her. Then she sang a high note, or at least something she thought was higher on her voice. She aimed the magic breath straight at the green runed panel, feeling absurd from the fact that she was singing. She felt like an awkward dragon learning how to shoot fire.

The bolt of magic struck the panel, and let out a beautiful sound that was more powerful than what Madoka could sing. Almost immediately after the panel was struck, the Harp began to play a harmony. The mechanic was clear to her now— she had to strike the notes with her breath and fulfill this strange ritual. Soon the mountain began to be filled with a beautiful song. Her head was full of the Mountain's voice rattling out the status of the Harp and the other mysterious voices.

"The pretty is sing, sing, singing!" "Sing with us, good looking!"

Less beasts appeared as Madoka preformed her song. Some of them were dramatically affected by the noise, dropping on the spot. The Harp's song played disjointed and out of time, seemingly in rhythm with Madoka's own timing. If she messed up, the building shook ferociously. She could no longer afford to feel embarrassed and had to get to work!

A green high note rang out. Then another. A blue lower note, and then a red bass note. The melody started to transform the Harp as the fans spun. Below her, she saw the ominous glow orb was beginning to stir. She had no time to worry about any of the distractions. Eventually, the panels fell silent. But, the Harp was now playing continuously, ringing out that hauntingly beautiful melody that filled this massive space.

Madoka let out a deep breath, aiming the stream of magic purposely outside. She took the time to truly listen to the song, finding it rather sad. It was like someone yearning for something or someone else, dropping into a low note that did not complete the expected experience. Instead, it lingered, like an old bruise. As she was almost lost in it, the Arms lowered into the muddy pit and made a huge splash. The dispersed liquid was now jet black from the carnage, but the pool was moving on its own, turning into a whirlpool. It was draining somewhere and lowering!

Then she realized what the Arms were grabbing. They latched onto the glowing orb and were lifting it high in the air, above the foul water below. Once all of the sludge sluiced off, Madoka caught a glimpse of what was inside. A crimson orb pierced through the dirty orb. Right as she was about to strain to see more, the Arms merged into one supporting it and withdrew into a layer above them somewhere. After a stunned moment, the Harp ceased its song. She was left only with the sound of nasty gurgling of draining putrid water and the foul smell that came with it.

「Pnaumic Harp Cleansing Ritual has been completed. Structural Integrity Status: Waking.

All phases completed. Servant of the Holy One, an interloper has been contained in the Pnaumic Soundbox. Please proceed to the next floor and cleanse it from this world. 」

"That's rather intense," Madoka muttered after she yanked the chain of Knotting magic tethering her to the Altar and fell to her knees panting. After a moment of collecting herself, she finally remembered the what she just saw. That red orb had to belong to the Vale Bá, did it not?

"Audrey, didn't that researcher say the Vale Bá had a red core in it?" Madoka asked. Her knees felt like they were going to collapse, but she stood up after a small struggle. Silence was her only response. "Audrey?"

She whirled around, only to see the princess lying on the ground in a pool of blood.

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