Innocence Seekers: April Light/Chapter 1/Episode 3

This is the third episode, "A Mysterious Ship" (不思議な船), of the first chapter of Innocence Seekers: April Light.

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Episode text
"Three years ago, a massive catastrophe was about to bear down on the galaxy. Gakran, a powerful demon who first appeared around a thousand years ago, had laid out his plans to eliminate humanity. Standing between him and this goal were eight magical girls. These eight girls set out to do what no one had ever done before.

"In the end, they succeeded in their quest, and Gakran was defeated. I could do nothing but watch, while my sisters gave whatever assistance they could give to the girls. Now it is my turn to help out in whatever crisis will come. I am the princess of Likkra, Louise, and this is the beginning of the story of the April Light."

The sun shone through the windows of Haguya Castle. Once a mighty fortress which had held off the Radicals during the Sunflower Revolution, it is now one of the gems of Haguya, its magnificent shape standing tall amongst the old buildings surrounding it. Although it is now dwarfed by the many skyscrapers found within the city, it is still the home of the royal family of Likkra, and the meeting place for the Likkran Parliament.

Within one of the bedrooms of the castle, the light shone through the glass of the window, illuminating the room. The sun's light touched the face of the girl sleeping in the canopy bed, and she began to stir. Eventually, the girl woke up and got out of bed. She walked to the small bathroom attached to the bedroom, and did her normal morning routine. After doing so, she exited the bathroom and got changed. Her outfit consisted of a long-sleeved yellow blouse, a sweater of the same colour, an orange skirt which fell just below where her fingertips would be if her arms hung straight down at her sides, and dark grey knee-high socks. She put her hair into a ponytail, and then left her room.

While the girl was walking along one of the numerous hallways of the castle, a voice called out to her.

–Voice: Louise!

The girl turned towards the direction of the voice. It was her older sister, Stephanie.

–Louise: Stephanie? Did you want me to do something? I was heading to the main dining room to have breakfast.

–Stephanie: You know, you could have breakfast delivered to your room.

–Louise: I'm not that busy, you know. Anyway, why did you call out to me?

–Stephanie: Well... I received a message from Akari.

–Louise: Akari? What did it say?

–Stephanie: Well, she said that there was an attack near the Furusaka Shrine in Tokyo. Several magical girls were targeted by a mysterious being. We don't know why, but they kept saying that they were beings who transcended our understanding.

–Louise: And you're asking me to investigate, right?

–Stephanie: Well, I would... but I'd like to hear your thoughts.

–Louise: Stephanie... you're older than me. You should be making these decisions for yourself. You can't just defer to others all the time. What if something happened to Amelia? That'd leave you in charge.

–Stephanie: True, but... okay. Louise, head to Tokyo, and meet Sumire.

–Louise: Understood. But let me eat and get ready first.

–Stephanie: Okay.

The two sisters parted ways.

While Louise was eating in the dining hall, Stephanie walked up to her and sat next to her.

–Louise: Weren't you going to eat in your room?

–Stephanie: Well, I wanted to speak to you about the recent events.

–Louise: You mean that attack?

–Stephanie: Well, what do you think?

–Louise: I'm not sure myself. Do you have any ideas?

–Stephanie: Well, there is this theory Akari put up. She said that the ones controlling the monsters might be Donsilans.

–Louise: Donsilans? You're kidding, right?

–Stephanie: Well, it's just a theory. Anyway...

Suddenly, Louise's phone rang.

–Louise: Ah...

Louise picked up the phone.

–Louise: Hello? Oh, it's you, Himawari. Wait... where are you exactly? I see. Anyway, I'll inform my sisters. Bye.

Louise put the phone away.

–Stephanie: What's going on?

–Louise: It appears that the Amaterasu has encountered a Donsilan ship, and is now being attacked. Himawari and a mysterious girl she saved while on Haralni have been sent back to the surface for their own safety.

–Stephanie: I see. I'll inform Amelia right away.

–Louise: I... I'll come with you.

–Stephanie: Okay, then.

The two sisters headed to the throne room.

When the sisters entered the throne room, they found it empty.

–Stephanie: Huh? Where is Amelia?

–Louise: Maybe she's still in her room. Should we check it out?

–Stephanie: Okay.

The sisters exited the throne room, went through another hallway, and stopped in front of the door to the room at the end of the hallway. Stephanie knocked on the door.

–Stephanie: Amelia! Are you there?

There was no response. Stephanie grabbed the doorknob and tried to turn it.

–Stephanie: ? The door's unlocked.

Stephanie opened the door, and she and Louise entered. There was no one inside.

–Stephanie: Where could she have gone? And just when we need her...

Louise saw a note on the coffee table, and picked it up.

–Louise: Stephanie, she left us a note.

–Stephanie: Let me see.

Louise handed the note to Stephanie. The note read:

"Sorry for leaving you on such short notice, but something has come up and I have been requested to head to Cedysna to meet with the other leaders and discuss our next course of action. You may have found out by now, but there have been several attacks on mages and magical girls in recent days, all done by mysterious beings whose origins we have yet to figure out."

–Stephanie: I'm guessing she already knows.

–Louise: Stephanie, what should we do? If these attacks continue...

–Stephanie: Wait, why are you asking me?

–Louise: Well, since Amelia isn't here, you're in charge now.

–Stephanie: Okay, okay. Louise, if you can, try to meet up with Himawari.

–Louise: Understood. But how can I get there? None of our spaceships are in operation, and it'll take too long anyway.

–Stephanie: If I recall, there are Portal Monoliths in the castle's basement. They haven't been used much in the past three years, though, since we now have spaceships which can take us anywhere without risk of encountering monsters.

–Louise: Okay. Well, then, I'll be off.

–Stephanie: Take care, Louise.

Louise left the room, and headed to the castle's basement.

In the castle's basement, there was a large room containing the Portal Monoliths. The room was guarded by two guards.

–Guard A: Princess, what business do you have down here?

–Louise: Stephanie told me to head to Haralni, to meet up with the princess of Namari.

–Guard B: You know it's dangerous to use the Portal Monoliths. And besides, we already have our spaceships.

–Louise: This is urgent; the Amaterasu is being attacked right now. We're not going to spend ten hours just to get one of our ships up and running, spend another 60 hours heading to Earth, and then another hour to get to Haralni.

–Guard B: I see your point. Very well, have a safe trip.

The guards opened the door. Louise entered the room, and headed to a specific Portal Monolith and activated it. In a flash of yellow light, she disappeared.

On a snowy plain, a lone house stood. The house was not particularly big; it could accommodate three people. But, for a long time, it had been unoccupied due to Gakran's influence on the planet's climate. The house was supposed to be part of a farm, but since nothing could grow, it had been abandoned. In the years since its abandonment, the other buildings had been demolished, and the house itself repurposed as a navigation point for travellers, complete with a Portal Monolith.

Inside the house, the Portal Monolith began to glow in a yellow light. Suddenly there was a bright flash of light, and Louise appeared beside the Portal Monolith. She exited the room where the Portal Monolith was, and found Himawari and a strange girl sitting in the hallway of the house.

–Louise: Himawari, what are you doing here? And who is that girl?

–Himawari: Ah, Louise, you're here. Listen, this girl I found seems to be connected to the Donsilans in some way.

–Louise: What makes you think so?

–Himawari: She identified the ship attacking the Amaterasu as a Donsilan ship. We still don't know the significance of this, though.

–Louise: Anyway, what is the girl's name?

The girl, Lyra, responded.

–Lyra: It's Lyra.

–Louise: Lyra?

–Himawari: It's not her actual name, but a rough translation of it into English.

–Louise: I see. Anyway, Lyra, I'm Louise, one of the princesses of Likkra.

–Lyra: Nice to meet you, Lou-Lou.

–Louise: Nice to meet you too... wait, "Lou-Lou"?

Himawari giggled.

–Himawari: Yeah, she also insists on calling me "Hima-chan".

–Louise: It sounds like something Uzuki would call me...

–Himawari: Anyway, speaking about Uzuki, I've asked Sumire to send her here.

–Louise: Wait, why?

–Himawari: Louise, do you know of Uzuki's Inherent Ability?

–Louise: No, what about it?

–Himawari: I think it might help us get out of the trouble we're in.

–Louise: You mean the battle between the spaceships?

–Himawari: Yes. Akari believes that Uzuki has a similar Inherent Ability to that of her eldest sister.

–Louise: I know about Mutsuki's Inherent Ability, and it is quite scary; to think one could use up a large percentage of mana to deliver an exceptionally powerful attack...

–Himawari: Anyway, I don't know when Uzuki will arrive, so...

Suddenly, the door was knocked down by a mysterious being.

–?????: Hmhmhm.... There you are, Lyra.

–Lyra: W-What do you want?

–?????: We have returned to this galaxy to take back what is rightfully ours. You are one of us; you will come with us.

–Lyra: No... I don't understand. What are you talking about?

–Himawari: Lyra, don't listen to that thing.

Louise changed into her mage outfit, and drew her gun.

–Louise: I don't know why you want Lyra, but you'll have to get past us first. Prepare yourself!

Himawari also changed into her mage outfit.

–Himawari: We will not negotiate with the likes of you. You have attacked our people repeatedly, and show no signs of ceasing your actions.

–Lyra: Hima-chan, Lou-Lou...

–?????: Very well, then.

The being charged straight at the three girls. Louise fired her gun at the monster, but it had no effect. Himawari sent a fireball at the monster, again to no effect. Both erected barriers right before the monster closed the distance, resulting in it bouncing off the barriers.

–Himawari: This one is stronger than the one from last time. Louise, you'll need to use stronger magic.

–Louise: I know. Let me try something.

A yellow magic circle appeared beneath Louise's feet. Metal spheres appeared out of nowhere, and were sent flying towards the monster. Upon impact, they sent the monster flying, but it only took a little damage. Soon after, an orange magic circle appeared beneath Himawari's feet. Multiple fireballs appeared, and were sent towards the monster. Upon impact, the monster took more damage, but did not appear to be significantly disabled.

–Louise: Himawari, should we try that?

–Himawari: You mean... wait, it's too cramped in here. We should take the battle outside first.

–Louise: Good idea. Lyra, come with us.

–Lyra: Ah, okay.

The three girls leapt past the monster and landed in front of the door.

–Himawari: Come on, let's take it outside.

The girls ran out of the building and onto the plain. They ran to around three kilometres from the house.

–?????: Very well, then.

The monster followed them. Magic circles appeared beneath the feet of both Louise and Himawari. A massive metal sphere appeared in the air, and began to glow red hot. The monster attempted to stop the spell by attacking one of the girls, but they had pre-emptively put up barriers.

–Louise: Right, then. Lyra, hold on tight!

–Lyra: Okay!

Louise and Himawari leapt out of the way of the massive sphere, with Lyra holding onto Louise. The monster tried to follow them, but...

–Louise and Himawari: Steel Inferno!

The red-hot metal sphere suddenly fell straight down onto the monster, creating a massive fireball as it impacted the earth. Once everything cleared, an area of around a kilometre in diameter was covered with sporadic puddles of rapidly-cooling molten metal. The snow had completely evaporated from the area, revealing bare rock. However, despite the massive power of the attack, the monster was still standing.

–Himawari: That wasn't enough?!

–?????: Was that all? Let's see if you can take this!

A green magic circle appeared beneath the monster. Suddenly, thousands of green lances appeared and were thrown at the girls. The barriers they put up managed to withstand the onslaught, but after a minute, they began to develop cracks.

–Louise: Himawari, I don't think we'll be able to take this much longer. Do you have any ideas?

–Himawari: No. But we do have Lyra.

–Louise: I suppose. Lyra, you're able to fight, right?

–Lyra: Yes.

–Louise: Well, it seems we have no choice but to ask you to fight.

–Lyra: Okay.

Lyra changed into her mage outfit. A white magic circle appeared beneath her feet, and thousands of white magic orbs appeared in the air.

–?????: You dare turn against us?!

–Lyra: I don't know who you are. I don't understand what's going on. But you won't harm my friends!

The magic orbs were thrown at the green lances, obliterating all of them.

–?????: You are one of us! You belong to us! And yet you fight us?

–Lyra: Then tell me. Who am I exactly?

–?????: If you come with us, you will find out.

–Lyra: If so, then I will not come with you. I don't trust you.

–?????: Then so be it. I will have to take you by force!

More green lances appeared, and were thrown straight at Lyra. However, a golem suddenly emerged from the ground and blocked the attack.

–?????: Who's there?!

A young girl's voice spoke.

–Voice: Sorry I'm late, Louise, Himawari.

The girls turned towards the direction of the voice. It was Mirai.

–Louise: Mirai? What are you doing here?

–Himawari: Mirai?

–Mirai: Well, I've brought someone with me here. But before that...

A blue magic circle appeared beneath Mirai's feet. A far larger magic circle appeared behind her, and a dragon emerged from it.

–Lyra: A dragon?

–?????: Tch. I never thought I'd encounter a summoner here.

The dragon took off and flew towards the monster. It breathed out a massive plume of fire, incapacitating the monster.

–Mirai: Now, for the finishing blow...

The golem walked straight to the monster, and with one mighty punch, crushed it on the ground.

–Himawari: Is it over?

–Mirai: It is. Anyway, let's head back to the house.

–Louise: Okay.

The girls returned to the house.

The girls entered the house, and headed upstairs.

–Mirai: By the way, who is that girl anyway?

–Lyra: Ah, umm, I'm Lyra.

–Mirai: Ah, nice to meet you, Lyra. I am Mirai Aooka.

–Lyra: Ah, nice to meet you too.

–Louise: Anyway, Mirai, whom have you brought here?

–Mirai: Well, let me get her.

Mirai entered the room. After a while, she exited. Alongside her was Uzuki.

–Himawari: Uzuki!

–Uzuki: It's been a while, Himawari. By the way, you must be Princess Louise, am I right?

–Louise: Yes. It's a pleasure meeting you, Uzuki.

–Uzuki: Same here, Lou-Lou.

Lyra giggled.

–Louise: You're calling me that as well?

–Lyra: Umm... ah...

–Uzuki: Ah, I haven't seen you before. Who might you be?

–Lyra: I'm Lyra.

–Himawari: Anyway, Uzuki, you know why you're here, right?

–Uzuki: Yes; Sumippe, Mi-chan and Inorin told me everything.

–Himawari: So you know that the Amaterasu is being attacked by a mysterious ship, and that you have the ability to possibly destroy the ship.

–Uzuki: Yes. But... I don't know how I can use this power.

–Louise: Well, the first thing to do is to leave this house and head to the plain outside.

–Uzuki: Ah, okay.

–Mirai: Wait, before we go, some of Uzuki's friends came with her.

Mirai opened the door, revealing Uzuki's friends.

–Uzuki: You can come out, everyone.

The three girls inside exited the room.

–Wakaba: It's a pleasure to meet you all, everyone. I'm Wakaba Harumi, and I'm one of Uzuki's friends.

–Aoi: Same here. I'm Aoi Higasa.

–Lyra: Ah, nice to meet you too.

–Himawari: It's been a while since I last saw you, Benio. How have you been, and how is Inori?

–Benio: I've been well, and so has Inori. What about Akari?

–Himawari: She's still her usual self. Oh, everyone, I should introduce this girl to you. Her name is Lyra. I don't know why, but the mysterious beings are after her.

–Wakaba: Wait... I think I know about her.

–Everyone: Eh?!

–Wakaba: If I recall, Natasha and Chelsea mentioned that their cousins' families had adopted a strange young girl whose origins no one knew. Her name was Lyra.

–Louise: Now that you mention it, Stephanie mentioned something about a girl whose origins no one could figure out. I never thought I would actually meet her.

–Uzuki: Wakaba, where did you get that information?

–Wakaba: Mizuki told me.

–Mirai: But I wonder, Lyra, why are those beings after you?

–Lyra: I... I don't know. They seem to know something about me I don't know.

–Mirai: Well, you are fairly strange, for a magical girl. Your mana signature differs significantly from that of a normal human magical girl, for example.

–Himawari: Anyway, let's focus on the task at hand. Everyone, let's head outside.

The girls headed outside. The sun was beginning to set.

–Aoi: So, you're saying that Uzuki has the ability to destroy the ship attacking the Amaterasu by herself, right?

–Mirai: Not quite; her power is necessary to disable its magic barriers.

–Himawari: We have ordered the Amaterasu to set the SMMC to full power and to commence charging of the weapon. At full power, and when fully charged, we estimate that the weapon can deliver nine megatons of magical energy to the target.

–Mirai: But the Donsilan ship's magic barriers can soak up to 20 megatons of energy. In comparison, the Amaterasu&#39;s magic barriers can only take up to ten megatons before being disabled.

–Himawari: And we estimate that Uzuki's Inherent Ability can deliver up to 30 megatons; more than enough to disable the barriers.

–Wakaba: So it's more than enough, right?

–Louise: Of course, such an abillity is very dangerous. Uzuki, are you prepared to use this ability?

–Uzuki: I am, but... I don't know how to use it.

–Mirai: Uzuki, I'll show you how to activate your Inherent Ability.

Mirai's dragon flew towards the girls and landed next to them.

–Mirai: Hop on, Uzuki.

–Uzuki: Okay, Mi-chan.

Mirai and Uzuki leapt onto the dragon's back. The dragon then took off.

End of Episode 3

Next episode preview
–Uzuki: Finally, I get to appear.

–Benio: Although, it was fairly late in the episode.

–Aoi: But at least the spotlight will fall on you next episode, Uzuki.

–Wakaba: I can't wait to see Uzuki take down an entire spaceship!

–Benio: But something still bothers me. Just what is it about Lyra?

–Uzuki: How am I supposed to know?

–Wakaba: Umm, Uzuki, should we wrap up for now?

–Uzuki: Ah, right. Next time on Innocence Seekers: April Light, Episode 4: "Battle in Space". Be sure not to miss it!

–Aoi: Things are beginning to get tense here. I hope everything ends well.

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Commentary
And with that, the whole team has been gathered. Of course, there is still a long way to go. I have a rough idea as to what might happen from here until the end of the first chapter, but beyond that, I haven't thought that far.

You may have noticed that I gave the energy of attacks and the amount of energy barriers can absorb in terms of tons of TNT. The main reason mages and magical girls are often so hard to defeat with non-magical weaponry is because their defensive spells can absorb kilotons of energy (often meaning only nuclear weapons can conceivably harm them), and their spells can deliver kilotons (or in some cases, megatons) of energy.

Uzuki's Inherent Ability is estimated to have an energy output of 30 megatons by Himawari. This is not based on an analysis of Uzuki herself, but it is based on Mutsuki's Inherent Ability Lunar Inferno, which had a measured output of 30 megatons when first used in Innocence Seekers: The Silver Princess. Over time, and with practice, the energy output can reach into the teratons, into the level of the most powerful Donsilan capital ships.

The ship which had confronted the Amaterasu is not an actual Donsilan ship; rather, it is a hijacked ship from an alien civilisation (which explains why it is only somewhat better than the Amaterasu). Whoever is responsible knows that it is inadvisable to bring out the big guns when a small one will do (and besides, whoever's responsible isn't trying to bombard humanity to oblivion).

This episode marks the first time I've put in a named spell and a combination spell. The spell in question is Steel Inferno, and is cast by Louise and Himawari.

The Shipborne Multifunction Magic Cannon (SMMC) is a marvelous piece of magical weaponry. It is set in a spinal mount in all of the spaceships owned by Likkra and Namari, and possesses multiple functions. At full power, it can deliver a nine-megaton magical projectile. It is also capable of acting as a powerful laser (at its maximum power, it can deliver eight megawatts at a ten nanometre wavelength) or particle beam weapon, as well as acting as a "hypervelocity shotgun" or a magic coilgun.

Louise mentions that it will take around 60 hours to reach Earth from Fuenod using one of Likkra's spaceships, and an additional hour to reach Haralni from Earth. Given a hyperspace acceleration of 13.5 parsecs per hour per hour (approximately 32,000,000 kilometres per second per second), this means that Earth is around 40,000 light years from Fuenod (a more precise value given in the setting is 39,700 light years), and Haralni is a mere 11 light years from Earth. The reason a spaceship needs to head to Earth first is because of the way waystones work. Note that because spaceships tend not to have top speeds, a longer travel distance will result a higher average velocity (for brachistochrone trajectories, travel distance scales quadratically with travel time, due to the second antiderivative of a constant being a quadratic function).

I should mention that the house which was once a farm is located in the tropics (to be more precise, around 12 degrees north). This is because of the very short year of Haralni (the planet was terraformed by Donsilans, like most human-inhabited planets in the setting, and is orbiting a red dwarf). Because of the short year, seasons on Haralni come and go in a matter of days, and I'm sure crops don't like it if it alternates between hot and cold weather over a week, for months on end.