Lament of the Overlord Emperor — One Single Wish to Break the World - Selection of Reason

The air was sweet. A spring breeze sweeping across the Great Lake of Orca made the window frame of the research tower tremble softly. Cal Ignis sat before the observation device, staring at the crystal panel where the numbers were being etched. In the corner of the room, Fio Lucretia cradled a steaming mug in both hands, gazing absently at the lake stretching beyond the window. Her pale golden hair swayed gently in the wind. Her clear, sky-blue eyes traced the morning sun reflected on the lake's surface. Cal returned his gaze to the crystal panel. A faint ache lingered deep in his chest. Even after all these years, he still hadn't grown used to this feeling. "Cal, another all-nighter?" Fio spoke without turning around. Her voice carried exasperation, and just a hint of worry. "...I can't stop halfway." Cal answered curtly. His right hand gripped a quill pen, while his left flipped through yesterday's observation data. The mana concentration graph showed a slight undulation. Normally, it was a fluctuation he wouldn't even notice. But today, for some reason, that tiny distortion burned into his eyes and refused to leave. Fio turned around. Her golden hair, cut neatly at her shoulders, swayed softly. "Your brain won't work if you don't sleep. And the weather's so nice, too." "The weather has nothing to do with research." "It does. They say good ideas come when you feel a nice breeze." She said this, then set her mug down on the desk. She stood up and stretched. The way she extended her small frame as far as it would go was almost catlike. Her petite back, just 158 centimeters tall, was silhouetted against the morning light. Cal set down his pen. (*...I can't win against her.*) He murmured it in his heart. Fio was right — he'd been sitting here since last night. The observation device's numbers had bothered him too much to sleep. But admitting that honestly felt somehow frustrating. "Want to take a walk down to the lakeshore? The Great Lake of Orca is really beautiful." "The data confirmation comes first." "The data isn't going anywhere." Fio came to stand beside Cal's desk. Her hand touched the observation device's crystal panel gently. Her sky-blue eyes peered into the mana concentration graph reflected there. In that instant, the air in the room changed. The observation device emitted a faint warning tone. The crystal panel's glow was slightly brighter than usual. Cal stared hard at the numbers. The graph's waves were slowly deepening. As if something were rising from the bottom of the lake. "...Fio, where's yesterday's data from the Trevarn Plains?" "Huh? That's an agricultural zone, isn't it? I heard they've been having amazing harvests lately." "That's exactly why." Cal stood up. His heart pounded heavily deep in his chest. The Trevarn Plains, in the southern part of the continent. A granary stretching 150 kilometers north to south and 300 kilometers east to west. A massive harvest there creates a mana imbalance. The fundamental law of the world — the Principle of Mana. The total amount of mana never changes. If one place prospers, another place declines by that exact amount. Cal frantically flipped through the data. The numbers slipped past his fingers. The mana concentration around the Great Lake of Orca was steadily, gradually decreasing. Just a little at a time. But unmistakably. If this continued, an "adjustment" to maintain equilibrium would occur. "The Principle's Selection." His voice was so low it surprised even himself. Fio caught her breath. "...Who's going to be chosen?" "I don't know yet. But if it's within this range..." Cal swallowed his words. Around the Great Lake of Orca, there were over a dozen research tower staff. People lived in the surrounding villages too. The Principle's Selection was truly random. Good people, bad people — it didn't matter. Someone would be erased, based on nothing but numbers. Fio touched Cal's arm softly. "It's okay. It hasn't been decided yet." Her fingers were a little cold. But her voice didn't tremble. If anything, it was quiet and calm. As if she had sensed this would happen all along. Cal activated the spell formula to identify the selection target. Equations streamed across the crystal panel. A procedure to trace the flow of mana and identify the "price" that equilibrium demanded. The further the formula progressed, the more Cal's palms grew slick with sweat. Fio stood silently beside him. The formula finished. It surfaced on the crystal panel. A biological mana pattern. It was — Fio's. "...No." Cal struck the crystal panel. The numbers flickered. But no matter how many times he rechecked, it was the same. The Principle's Selection had chosen Fio Lucretia. Fio stared at the crystal panel, motionless. "...That kind of thing happens, doesn't it." Her voice, as before, did not tremble. Her sky-blue eyes slowly turned toward Cal. Her expression, more than sadness, carried a shade of something like acceptance. "Don't be ridiculous! There's no reason for you to disappear!" Cal shouted. He kicked over his chair and swept the parchment with the spell formula off the desk. Fio stepped back, startled. But she smiled immediately. "Cal, calm down." "How can I possibly calm down!" "Hey, do you remember my research?" Fio took Cal's hand. Her cold fingers squeezed back firmly. "I always said that the Principle of Mana might be changeable. I haven't been able to prove it yet, though." "Proof doesn't matter. What matters now is protecting you." "No. Proof is important." She shook her head. Her golden hair swayed softly. "Because, for Cal to continue his research from now on, you'll need my hypothesis, right?" Those words pierced his chest. "From now on." She said it as if she were already assuming she wouldn't be there. "...Stop it. Don't talk like that." Cal shook off Fio's hand and ran down the stairs to the basement. In the research tower's basement, high-concentration mana crystals were stored. And forbidden texts. Spell formulas that interfered with the Principle of Mana, sealed away since the age of the gods. Among them was a theory called Forced Mana Redistribution. Shift the equilibrium by human will. At the cost of the caster's life force. (*That's fine.*) Cal burst into the basement stone chamber and grabbed a mana crystal from the shelf. Its cold radiance shone as if clinging to his palm. He assembled the formula. His fingers trembled. But they didn't stop. Upstairs, Fio was saying something. He couldn't hear the words. The spell activated. The mana crystal blazed with dazzling light. A searing heat raced through Cal's entire body. His life force was being siphoned into the world through invisible conduits. But he didn't care. (*I won't let Fio disappear.*) That single thought drove him to push the spell through. A few seconds later. The world had not changed at all. The Principle of Mana does not waver. It is not a soft law that moves for human will, or a young man's love, or anything like that. Absolute. Irrational. Perfect equilibrium. "...Fio." Cal raced up the stairs. The first floor of the research tower. In front of the archives. Fio had stopped sorting documents and was just turning around. In her hands, she still held parchment that was mid-way through being categorized. Her body was wrapped in a pale light. "Ah, Cal." Her final voice was no different from usual. As if they would see each other again tomorrow. The light intensified. The parchment fell to the floor. Cal reached out his hand. But her body was already fading, as if dissolving into the air. "Fio!" Before his cry could reach her. Fio Lucretia vanished from the world. Without a sound. Without a trace. Cal remained frozen, his hand still outstretched toward the place where she had stood. The parchment on the floor no longer bore her handwriting. Only blank paper rustled dryly. Footsteps descended the stairs. A fellow researcher peered into the archives with a puzzled expression. "Cal? What's wrong, standing in a place like that?" "...Fio, she..." "Fio? Who's that?" Cal didn't answer. He couldn't answer. His colleague's eyes truly remembered nothing. The chair Fio had sat in, the mug she had always drunk from — they were just objects now, simply there. In no one's memory did she exist anymore. Cal returned to the basement. His footsteps were swallowed by the stone stairs. At the end of the corridor, the sealed vault. Its iron door was layered with spell formulas from the age of the gods. Here slept the forbidden theory of rewriting the Principle of Mana. The Overlord Eye — records of a power that saw through everything and changed what it saw. Cal destroyed the door. The recoil of the spell formulas sent irregular cracks of light racing across the back of his left hand. But he felt no pain. He didn't have the luxury of feeling it. What he took from inside was a single ancient text. He opened its pages. Written there was a method to twist the laws of the world. Cal sat down on the floor and read the first page. His eyes were not yet different colors. Neither crimson nor gold. Just ordinary, gray eyes. But the light dwelling deep within them. Was on the verge of erasing the last traces of the gentle young man he had once been. Several days later. Cal stood before the door to Fio's room. An empty room. On the desk, a notebook with nothing written in it. By the window, a small flower beginning to wilt. But whose gift that flower had been — no one but Cal could remember anymore. Cal ran his pen across the margins of the text. The first calculation formula. The prototype of the spell that would, thousands of years later, become the foundation of the Kaleidosphere. His hand trembled. But the pen tip did not stop. (*Fio.*) He called her name in his heart. (*The fact that you told me not to hate the world.*) (*The me right now doesn't remember it.*) (*Even so.*) The pen glided across the paper. (*I will definitely bring you back.*) Outside the window, the Great Lake of Orca sparkled in the spring sun. The lakeshore where they had once walked together. The path where Fio had laughed and pulled Cal's hand, running. Now, it was a path he could only walk alone. Cal did not raise his head. In his eyes dwelled only the cold, frozen light of resolve. The gentleness of the past was nowhere to be found. But. Only the trembling of the hand moving the pen still held onto human weakness. A long, solitary battle had begun. Understood by no one, sympathized with by no one, and yet. For the sake of just one person. The first step toward making the world his enemy. Was etched here.

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Episode 1

Name: Lament of the Overlord Emperor — One Single Wish to Break the World
Author: Novelia

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