Miracle Summoner

—Faux Angel.

This was a forbidden ritual handed down within the Kingdom of Aldegyr, known as an advanced nation in magical technology.

Said ritual enabled human beings to evolve in spiritual rank, creating artificial angels through a technique steeped in taboo.

In the past, Kanase Kanon's foster father, Kanase Kensei, the proposer of the Faux Angel concept, attempted to conduct this very ritual on her in order to transform her into an artificial angel—an existence of a higher dimension.

However, to achieve that goal, forcibly modifying a human body into an angel required an immense number of high-output spiritual energy cores.

Only by implanting the spiritual energy core circuits—enhanced to the limits of human endurance—from seven individuals into a single person, could a perfect faux angel be born.

Thus, the ritual known as Faux Angel was in truth a brutal death match between seven candidates, where they had to kill one another and absorb each other's spiritual energy cores. Once one individual had collected all seven, they would ascend—becoming an angel.

But that wasn't the only method of becoming a Faux Angel.

For instance, the Lion King Agency possessed another route to ascension.

That was through the power of the Mechanical Demon-Purging Assault Spear Mark Seven.

"Including Sekkaro, all of the Mechanical Demon-Purging Assault Spear Mark Seven units emit divine vibration waves that are actually artificial divinity—the same type of divinity controlled by faux angels."

Rozen's voice reverberated quietly through the antique shop.

"If it's the Mechanical Demon-Purging Assault Spear Mark Seven, then it can serve as a spiritual energy core. It absorbs the user's mana, converts it into divine energy, and feeds it back into the user's body—gradually altering their constitution. Eventually, this leads to an artificial form of spiritual evolution, transforming the user into a higher-dimensional being."

This was angelification—the side effect of using Sekkaro and the other Mechanical Demon-Purging Assault Spears.

"Of course, if merely using a Mechanical Demon-Purging Assault Spear Mark Seven was enough to turn someone into an angel, then angels would be absurdly cheap. The real cause of angelification is that those capable of wielding these weapons are always extremely talented Shamans—spiritual mediums with high aptitude. When individuals with such elevated spiritual sensitivity are exposed to divine energy over long periods, they begin to absorb it themselves and undergo transformation."

This is also why highly gifted Shamans and priests can communicate with spirits—some even capable of ascending to divine. It shows just how close high-level spiritual beings are to the divine.

Even in the Faux Angel ritual, the idea of mutual slaughter and absorption of cores is theoretical.

Without someone possessing the spiritual capacity to withstand such immense power and evolution, how could one possibly ascend to a higher-dimensional existence so easily?

That was why Kanase Kensei pushed his daughter forward—because Kanon was royalty of the Kingdom of Aldegyr, born with outstanding spiritual medium qualities sufficient for ascension.

The restrictive requirements for wielding the Mechanical Demon-Purging Assault Spear Mark Seven were, in truth, a filtering mechanism to identify who could successfully ascend. For an ordinary person, even being able to wield one would not make them capable of angelification.

Unfortunately, those capable of using the weapon naturally possessed the qualities needed to ascend.

Because of this, angelification became an inherent side effect of the weapon. If one continued using it excessively, the final outcome would be complete angelification—a higher-dimensional evolution, resulting in their total disappearance from this world.

And of course, by that time, their consciousness would be gone.

After all, an angel is merely a phenomenon—a concept of higher dimensions. They possess no will, no soul. What remains is merely a survival instinct, akin to a natural law of the world.

And now, Himeragi Yukina had begun to show signs of angelification.

In response—

"Don't tell me the Lion King Agency knew nothing. If that's the case, then I really won't need to be polite anymore."

Rozen's voice was calm but carried a sharp edge.

Endo Yukari closed her eyes in silence.

Kirasaka Sayaka stood completely frozen, unable to react.

For Sayaka, who lost her family at a young age, Yukina—her roommate who had shared many long years with her at High God Forest—was more than a sister. She was her only remaining family. That's why Sayaka doted on Yukina to such an extreme.

Hearing this now, her shock-induced stupor was only natural.

But Rozen had no time to cater to anyone's emotional state.

He had come here to demand an answer from the Lion King Agency.

"In her current condition, Himeragi probably can't endure the power of the Mechanical Demon-Purging Assault Spear Mark Seven anymore. If she continues using Sekkaro, it won't be long before she fully angelifies and ascends."

"Even if Sekkaro is taken away, her body has already undergone partial transformation. The moment she uses spiritual energy again, the angelification process will accelerate."

"In other words, if Himeragi wants to keep living, she must never use spiritual energy again."

"Which means she can no longer be a Sword Shaman."

"From now on, she'll probably have to live as just an ordinary person."

Rozen laid it out, word by word.

"In the face of all this, don't you have anything to say, Lion King Agency?"

At that, silence once again blanketed the antique shop.

"Master…!"

Sayaka finally snapped back, her face pale, trying to speak.

But it was Endo Yukari who responded.

"Those compatible with the Mechanical Demon-Purging Assault Spear Mark Seven are exceedingly rare. Himeragi, still a Sword Shaman-in-training, was chosen to monitor you precisely because of her extreme compatibility with that weapon. We never imagined, however, that her angelification symptoms would progress this quickly. It was beyond our expectations as well."

She spoke in a low, measured voice.

"Clearly, Himeragi's compatibility with Sekkaro is even higher than our tests initially indicated. Likely due to prolonged exposure to extraordinary individuals over this time, her compatibility must have increased at a non-human rate."

Of course, that wasn't the main issue.

The main issue was—

"I understand your purpose here, Divine Child."

Endo Yukari sighed.

"If you've come to accuse us, we can offer no excuse. We were the ones who gave her that weapon."

But her tone lacked any trace of guilt.

No—it was because they had already accepted this outcome long ago.

"Because if we hadn't done it, this country would have been destroyed long ago."

Endo Yukari stated this in a voice devoid of emotion.