SPELLCRAFT: Reincarnation Of A Magic Scholar

[MOMENTS EARLIER…]

[Western Continent, Fairy Kingdom]

The Fairy Kingdom was well-fortified, thanks to Jane Ursula's immense talent and skill in Magic Engineering.

Golems, Automatons, and droves of weaponized constructs were already prepared to resist Beruel and Kido, who led the invasion. Other than the inanimate weapons of war, the Fairies were also prepared to defend their Kingdom from external aggressors.

Whether they did so of their own free will or not was irrelevant.

Thanks to Jared's calculations, though, the total number of soldiers with Beruel and Kido was sufficient to handle the resistance put up by the Fairy Kingdom.

Despite their possession of enough forces to eventually take back the Fairy Kingdom, the duo decided to take a much different approach.

An approach that rendered the thousands of troops behind them…

"[The Charriot]"

"[The Emperor]"

… completely unnecessary.

[The Chariot] easily hijacked control of the enemy's technological advantage, while [The Emperor] took over the living opponents.

In essence, just the two of them were enough to subdue the entire Fairy Kingdom—all within a matter of minutes.

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"There's a problem…" Beruel whispered.

Even though they had already disabled all the technological defenses, and forced the Fairies to surrender, there was a much bigger issue that caused the Fairy King worry.

"Using [The Chariot], I was able to detect something from them." He added, looking at Kido with a very concerned expression.

Kido could only depict shock.

"[The Chariot] only works on technology, though."

"Exactly!"

"W-what are you saying, Beruel?"

It seemed a lump had formed in his throat, since it took him a great deal of time to form the words properly. His expression was so downcast that he seemed too distraught to know where to begin.

"Their bodies… inside their bodies, there is a multitude of technological devices."

"H-huh?" Kido was confused now.

He glanced at the dazed Fairies, who were pretty much on their knees thanks to his power.

"I wondered why they didn't show any emotion when they attacked me. I wondered why they would easily throw their lives away, considering how very fearful of death we Fairies are. Now I know."

He clenched his fist and gritted his teeth.

"Jane Ursula… how dare you…?" Beruel growled as he tightened his fist and scrunched up his face.

The fact that Kido could control the Elves showed that they were organic lifeforms. However, the fact that he could also affect them with his Arcana Spell showed they were partly machines too.

No, that wasn't quite right.

The Fairies weren't wholly organic, and neither were they machines. They were something else… something more.

"She must have injected Nano-Machines into them, forcing them to do her bidding. I'm sensing explosive materials within them. If they disobeyed her orders, she would have killed them. It's no wonder the coup was so successful. Just how long did it take for her to take control of everyone…?"

The Fairies had these tiny machines within them, so they had to hearken to Jane's instructions. The technology wasn't very complicated, but he was sure that Jane would have made it seem even more dangerous than it was.

'It's just technology that explodes upon meeting special conditions. The firepower isn't exactly large-scale, considering the size, but if there are millions of them in a person, that person is sure to die…'

From what he was learning from the devices, they functioned parasitically. Absorbing the Mana Particles in the body t stay functional, and if they were going to explode, they would simply overwork the stabilizer by taking in more Mana Particles, thereby leading to self-destruction.

"Kido, tell one of the Fairies under your control to explain how he was threatened."

In response, Kido nodded and brought a random soldier before Beruel.

"Tell us about the card Jane Ursula uses to keep you fighting for her." He said very calmly.

"I… I have a wife and three kids. If I don't fight and win, they'll d-die!" The Fairy said with as much emotion as a controlled puppet could muster.

"How would they die?"

"All of us have been injected with Queen Jane Ursula's powerful nano-devices. It can read our minds to decipher our loyalty. It can cause us sickness or bring us health. It can also kill us at any time. If we desire to live, we must remain loyal to the Queen and do whatever she desires."

Beruel's face darkened the more he heard about the plight of this single Fairy. He wondered about the many other Fairies and the stories they had to tell.

"Jane lied to them. The device can't read their mind or do anything else. It can only bring death to them by using their Mana Particles against them…"

But whether she was lying to them or not about how effective her technology was didn't change the fear it had on them. No, the lie was most likely what made her hold over them so strong.

"Do you think you can deactivate the machines, or something?" Kido asked Beruel.

"I should be able to. The machines shouldn't be too much of a bother to manipulate. The problem is that there are at least a million in every Fairy. There's a limit to how much I can control at once."

In the end, he would have to do this by saving one Fairy at a time.

"It's going to take a great deal of time…" Beruel narrowed his gaze in resolve. "But, I will save my people… NO MATTER WHAT!"

That was his duty as the Fairy King.

"One last question, Fairy. What do you think of your former Ruler, Fairy King Beruel?" Kido asked the controlled being before the two of them.

"Fairy King Beruel… was the kindest ruler I have ever known. Everyone regrets betraying him, I'm sure. He was… the best!"

A warm smile formed on Beruel's face, and his twinkling eyes expressed gratitude to Kido.

"Come on, Fairy King. Time to get to work."

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[A/N]

Here's the link.