Apocalypse Witch: To the Strongests of an Age of Plenty
Episode 1's

“Incompetent,” said the devil. “Incompetent, incompetent, everyone here is incompetent. Therefore, the Grimnoah Sea Crystal Magic Academy should be closed immediately!!”

A digital alarm goes off in a dark room.

Utagai Karuta reached towards the large bed, but his finger instead found something else. It was like trying to grab the desired book in a bookstore and accidentally bumping into the hands of another customer.

He was confused as someone spoke from within the darkness.

"Why do you set the time so early, quiet. Have you started your own training?"

"Marica?"

He closed his eyes towards the familiar voice and could barely see the silhouette of the woman inside the darkness.

This was his childhood friend who was his age. The girl's long hair was dyed strawberry blonde and she swiped it in half. He has a curled body shape for his short height. Unless something goes wrong. Is the body line of a girl who is dressed really clearly visible in silhouette?

Utagai Karuta had a bad feeling about this, so he asked her from the bed.

"Wait a minute, Marika."

"Isn't it a bit late for that? We've shared bathrooms and beds in the past, right? And although I'm not proud of it, you know what my room looks like. I bought too many new swimsuits online, so basically my room was like a warehouse with no room for a walk. It's not the first time I've sneaked here to get help."

"That's obviously a problem, but that's not what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about how you dress."

"Oh, this?" The sexy silhouette without hesitation placed her hands on her hips. "You know I can't sleep if I'm not naked, right?"

"Yahhhhh !!"

Surprisingly, he rolled around from the big bed.

As his last form of resistance, he gripped the bed sheet with his toes while rolling onto the floor and throwing it into the air. The muffled protest from the girl reached him after the bed sheet fell right over his head.

"Oh, come. Is the familiar sight of your childhood friend really that very disturbing?"

"No, if anything, it's an opponent...!!"

(Oh, no!! Prime number! Pi's! Anything that will distract me! Oh, I know! I can review my knowledge of Crystal Magic!)

In a panic he tried to refocus himself, but several different bad events happened here. He shouldn't have messed up that weird IoT device setup. The automatic blinds have been set to open exactly three minutes after the alarm goes off to help him get up in the morning.

The human internal clock is closely related to sunlight, so artificially increasing the amount of light is one of the methods used by jetlag recovery programs.

Nevertheless, the image that hit the heart of Utagai Karuta was not a beautiful morning sun, but rather a two-pointed girl that shone brightly in the sun.

Of course, his body was somewhat hidden, as he had kicked the bedsheet into the air a moment before.

"Good morning, Karuta-kun. The weather today was amazing again."

"Bwah! M-Mari-Mari-Marica!! Can't you... Can't you cover yourself better than that!?"

"Why bother when I'm going to take a shower? Oh, you don't mind if I take my first shower in the morning, do you?"

"Getgawa."

"And as a thank you for letting me go first, you can enjoy a beautiful bath surrounded by the lingering scent of a beautiful girl."

"Let'soo!!"

(Awawaawaawa! Humanity cannot - the breast - directly control the weather, but by detecting meteorological phenomena such as high and low pressures and then "driving those currents", we can prevent natural disasters and ensure the success of large-scale agriculture - breasts - Crystal Magic is used by electronically controlling Crystal Blossom using printed circuit boards that are smaller than stamps and sealing names the god inside - the breast and the breast - to produce magical phenomena such as producing fire from the hands or flying across the sky, so - ah ha, ah ha ha, no, no, I can't focus at all!!)

Karuta's mind exploded for more than one thing, and Amaashi Marika must have been satisfied with her frantic screams as she burst out laughing and lost her way into the bathroom.

The boy began to feel pain hearing the sound of water flowing from the side of the wall, but when he agitatedly walked from and fro, he smashed his toes on one of the plastic pieces near the window.

Its shape resembled bamboo leaves, but its size was larger than him when lying down. That thing looks like a board to a single person with a round cover on it, actually a prototype of a civil spaceship. (You may be able to make a small trip with it if it is launched from a space station outside the atmosphere, but you will almost certainly die of loneliness.) The barriers to space development have decreased a lot lately, so you can find things like this even in "schools" like this.

He sighed, bowed, and lightly knocked on the surface of the spacecraft.

He heard a knock from there.

"I'm sorry for all the noise. Does that bother you?"

He heard another knock that seemed to say "it's okay".

Then, he looked out the window that was no longer covered in curtains.

The room had a large bed, table, microwave and electric water heater, but no kitchen or dining room. The bathroom where Marika curled her hair in was a prefabricated unit consisting of a bathtub and toilet. Some people may think it sounds like a hotel room.

It's almost the same, but not completely.

The view out the window shows the sea. And this is definitely not the sea near Japan. It is a hot, glittering sea of emerald green found near the equator. This room is on a big ship. At 500m in length, it is almost twice the size of a nuclear aircraft carrier.

And.

Someone flew through the window.

It caused the thick reinforced glass to vibrate as it passed through it, and if its kinetic vision was accurate, it looked like a human. High School girl of her age who is protected by armor on her arms and legs, with a head on her back, and equipped with transparent materials and angles.

This may seem very strange from a global perspective.

But Utagai Karuta is one of them, so much more familiar than his childhood friend's nudity.

"Ocean Crystal Magic Academy Grimnoah, huh?"

He went back to thinking about where he stood and what strength he had.

Good.

She was also one of the magicians who wore a new generation Crystal Flower on her chest.

"What, you don't shower? Slutty."

After washing his face, Utagai Karuta chose not to respond to his childhood friend whose skin was flushed red from bathing. He could not admit to worrying about what would happen to his blood pressure if he spent too long inside the bathroom filled with female scents.

They wear uniforms to the "school.

They both wear purple blazers, but they are not suitable for use in locations so close to the equator. Some students jumped around happily with the more frequent opportunities for female students to bathe, but Karuta was not included in the group. He really hates sweat.

One form of resistance is wearing a running shirt under his blazer instead of a regular shirt.

"You're gonna go for some practice, right?"

"What about you, Marika?"

"The canteen's still closed, so I'll come along. Disasters are coming, but more importantly food tastes better when you're hungry."

As the two of them left his room while conversing, a classmate named Kazamuki Gekiha emerged from the neighboring room.

Marika doesn't care at all if she is seen leaving Karuta's room (with her wet hair from the bath), so she talks to him with a look of wonder.

"What, you're also going to practice? When did our class start working?"

"Try to appreciate the neighbors. Your partner's comedy sketches are waking me up early every morning these days."

"sorry. But to explain, this isn't a 'couple comedy sketch'."

Eventually, Gekiha joined them. It's too late to go back to sleep and he probably doesn't want to waste time. His loose uniform and lackluster posture gave off the impression of a thug-style, but he would definitely not be able to enter the Sea Crystal Alert Academy if he was not smart.

“So where do you practice?” ask Marika. “In gym? Or in the pool?”

The question shows how big this ship is.

This single ship is already large enough to accommodate living spaces, classrooms, laboratories, lecture halls, gyms, and indoor swimming pools for more than 700 students and faculty aboard. It already sounded like it was magical without having to mention about the Crystal Flower.

Magical Crystals can only be used by a select few, but their by-products have spread all over the world. It was similar to the relationship between the power of a great fire and the processing of iron. Many new materials and highly efficient new techniques developed by Magic Crystals have blessed the construction field.

Simply put, buildings have grown taller, underground structures have evolved, and ships and planes have grown larger. The landscape of the world has changed because of what is added on top of existing technology.

Yet...

"No matter where. Because my Crystal Blossom is a little weird."

"Yes." Yeah."

"You're right."

"So, I'll go wherever you want. Where you can explore as much as possible."

After Utagai Karuta let the others choose, they knew exactly where they would train all day.

They moved to the back of the ship which was twice the size of a luxury yacht. The three arrived at a vast flat heliport.

Some students were already gathered there, but they did not play ball or wrestle in that heliport.

They're falling.

Falling from the edge of the heliport and towards the glittering sea of emerald color.

"Tezcatlipoca, turn on your strength" whispered Marika surging.

He was wearing something similar to a glass flower on his chest and it instantly moved. The electrical signal generated by the printed circuit board that is smaller than the seal passes through a cable that is thinner than the hair and the flower is exposed. The flower is blooming. And then it was destroyed. The transparent particles wrapped around his body and became a cold armor that encompassed his arms and legs and extended in some places to form wings like swords.

Another prominent feature is the rapier-shaped tool made of transparent crystals. Of course, this was not a primitive tool to cut something with a pointed knife. It will use ultra-fast vibration and heat to block the activity between electrons that bind molecules together.

He did not have to worry about the flower petals. More is automatically provided to replace the fallen.

“Thor, activate strength”, whispered Gekiha.

In his case, ten large wings grew from all over his back.

The gun is much more crude. It looks to be made of the same crystal as Marika's, but was designed as a cross between a chainsaw and a Gatling gun that is longer than its height. His ability to easily swing it with one more hand was a blessing from Crystal Magic.

Not all Sihr Crystals were the same. There was a huge difference in the power possessed depending on the god used. For example, both can produce various phenomena that they use as weapons, but Marika's Tezcatlipoca is based on light while Kazamuki Gekiha's Thor is based on electricity.

Utagai Karuta exhaled slowly.

And he waved his hand with a smile.

"Have a good time."

But there was no gurgling sound. Instead, there was a sound like a sharp whistle. He looked down and saw the emerald sea split apart as the two freely followed its surface.

They move faster than fighter jets and are smoother than dancers.

Legend has it that the shapes could evade 70 missiles that were locked in a target sequence and were even able to vibrate to the point of being free of the ship's laser interception.

The flower on Karuta's chest trembled slightly while he remained on the ship.

Human voices are rapidly forming.

They belonged to two classmates who had gone ahead of him.

"Whews! all right, let's start by working together" Gekiha said. "I will place the marker in the path of the slalom, so follow my movements carefully!!"

"If asked who your team will be in battle, I'm sure I won't be on your team, but this is just training" Marika replied.

"Well, seniors are very different."

“Tch. They're trifling us again, aren't they?”

Karuta also looked up at the sky.

The Crystal Magicians use a special type of flower pollen to "grow" the armor rather than "handling" or "wearing" it. It is much easier to carry than older sticks and sets of cards, and can be considered a supernatural conductor who has barely lost energy when connected. The energy emitted by the Original Crystal Embryo that was said to exist at the center of the earth and the various forces that descended from space would collide and create a "vortex of power" random are similar to high pressures and frequencies in the occult, but these monsters can access a wide variety of supernatural phenomena by using their electrically controlled Crystal Petals, like someone who efficiently cultivates a field or lifts a screen to take advantage of the weather. Yes, this is just like the priests and priests of ancient times who performed holy acts according to horoscopes or calendars that show everything from creation to destruction, all that is so that they can gain the power that brings people together to form a civilization.

However, the rulers of the supernatural world had a clear hierarchy between them.

Marika and Gekiha race across the glittering sea at breakneck speed, but above the heads of their classmates are seen several flying silhouettes. They fly their wings like angels or demons and most likely they are Karuta's upper class classmates, known as Regulation 2.

It's like the difference between a small kart and a Formula 1 vehicle. Karuta and his friends belong to Regulation 1, so they have not even been granted the right to fight alongside them in the school competition known as Catastrophe.

Unless they use a special system known as Category Error.

“Kee hee hee," Marika laughs. "Keep staring up like that and people will think you're a panties peeper.”

“!?”

Karuta was shocked and Marika continued her attack with a laugh.

“Don't worry, even the students in other years know that this miserable childhood friend of mine won't try anything. Besides, I don't see any Regulation 3.”

“You mean those dimensional travelers?”

“I doubt that part is true. Although I won't drop the President of OSIS that.”

The Crystal Magician does not use an elevator or jet on itself to fly or flap above sea level.

Crystal Magic uses excitation vibrations to shake space and dimensions itself and creates an invisible screen that allows them to ride large currents that form deep high and low pressure fronts. But, the more physical hurdles and footing there are, the better. Therefore, Regulation 1 is restricted to the oceans only while Regulation 2 can reach the skies.

What about Regulation 3?

It is said that they can increase the vibration of the excitation to the point where they can push the dimension past its limit and tear it apart. It is said that they can pass through that dimensional gap and make it also as their own territory. In other words, they can perform dimensional jumps similar to teleportation or space bending devices.

Floating on the water, flying through the sky, and dimensional travel. ... Well, everything shouldn't be possible, but it fits with how hard it's to imagine, I guess.

There is a reason why they have gone so far.

There was a logical and urgent reason why they needed to acquire such great power.

"Direct towards the drones that fly around freely," Gekiha said. "Let's mark from A00 to N99. I will take it to you and you will finish it. Let's target for 30 seconds. Or is it too hard for you, Miss Marika!?"

"Okay, really!? This is why I don't want to team up with a Gatling gun optics enthusiast who loves to shoot! Don't hit the senior flying up there, okay!?"

"It wouldn't kill them if I did. The spatial vibration field would protect them, plus they were quite immortal even if I broke through that barrier."

Thanks to Crystal Magic, they can regenerate an arm or leg if injured. With anything other than a fatal blow, the damaged part will be immediately crystallized and return to normal in about 30 seconds. ... However, that chance would be lost if that crystallized passage was shattered by further attacks as it prepared to regenerate.

With a fatal blow, their entire body would crystallize.

In this case, the regeneration period is unknown. Or rather, depending on the extent of the injury. A slit throat might be fine after less than a year, but if their bodies were to split in two or their entire bodies were to be shattered into pieces, even a century would not be enough. And if part of their original body had been lost, then the time increased by tenfold or even a hundredfold. It may be like being placed in a cold sleep while they slowly heal.

"May I say something strange?" ask Karuta.

"That's normal for you, so don't worry" Gekiha said. "Then what's up?"

"I think even Crystal Magicians died when they were seriously injured. I mean, wound healing and fatal wound regeneration obviously use different modes. With regeneration, their clothes harden. I guess it's like healing keeps their souls inside, whereas regeneration doesn't."

"You mean like those Egyptian mummies?" ask Marika. "They're preserving corpses because resurrected souls will need them at their destination, right?"

"What difference?" added Gekiha. "After all, you can still come back after being decapitated or your heart shot."

Does it look like a second chance to restart your life, or does it look like a punishment that makes you wander the world in a state where you will never die?

Your interpretation may depend on your personal beliefs.

"..."

Flying, forming barriers, and regenerating.

It was a "preset" shared by the entire Crystal Experts. In other words, it is standard.

However, they also had individual Skills based on gods that they wore like armor, so much was offered in this deal.

"I do have a Gatling gun, but I prefer to fight at close range using a chainsaw" Gekiha said. "Just that I already have a rotation structure there, so I think I can use it in a good way as well."

"Anyway, it's really lacking style" Marika said. "In addition, isn't the greatest advantage of your Thor a change in the trajectory of a boomerang-like projectile? So why are you so focused on close combat?"

Karuta watches from the heliport as his two friends have fun flying over the sea.

"Do you think the threat really exists?" ask Karuta without thinking first.

Kazamuki Gekiha obviously disliked the question.

"How do I know when we're not given information about it? Is it a human or a monster? Is it a plant or an animal? Is it a living thing or a machine? Is it micro or macro? We don't know anything. It could even be a legitimate god or demon as far as we know."

"But we know that cities are disappearing all over the world" Marika said. "And in some cases, an entire small country simply disappeared without a trace, like someone using a giant eraser. That's the only thing we know."

The large pressure feels like a soft hand pressing against the center of the abdomen.

Cities and countries are disappearing all over the world.

And it always happens overnight without anyone being able to fight back in the slightest.

Nothing has been announced as to the cause and disguises have been applied so even civilian satellites cannot see what is going on, so worrying speculation continues to grow relentlessly.

Is that what you have to hide from the world?

That is why this academy was built as a ship. And that is why the ship is surrounded by many escort ships of various sizes. There is no longer a fixed location that serves as a solid base. No longer a supercity of great power, no longer a hiding place in the depths of the earth, and not a secret garden at the end of the world.

That threat.

Maybe it's not something mystical. It was most likely just an ordinary army made up of enemy soldiers. But with all the information hidden, they are forced to go straight through the causes and processes and just see the results. That was enough to make it a real nightmare.

“I hate how we are asked to fight something without being told what it is,” complained Karuta.

"I think this big school and hate are there to prepare us when an unexpected party suddenly comes" Marika said.

Hatred was divided into several regulations, but it was still a big event that defined a clear hierarchy among the students of the Sea Crystal Magi Academy. However, this is not a martial arts tournament where students fight each other, a sports festival where their athletic ability is measured, or a final exam where their academic ability is tested.

His name says everything.

They were thrown into a great disaster.

"Rumors I've heard say that they will do almost anything" Gekiha said. "They might scatter liquid helium high up in the sky to create a bomb cyclone, or they might stockpile a 1,000-meter-deep hole with explosives to trigger an artificial volcanic eruption."

"I'm going to choose one of those two things instead of being taken to a remote island just to get gelatinous carrying a genetically modified pathogen showering you from the sky" Marika said.

"Um, I heard you could wake up after the dope ran out and find yourself in the middle of a military conflict somewhere in the world" Karuta said.

Natural disasters, disease outbreaks, and war.

Disaster can come in many forms. There is no prior warning and they are free to cooperate or fight other students they find.

There was only one condition to win: overcoming the disaster the academy had given and ending the problems it had caused.

The number of disasters they successfully overcome safely and how active roles they play will be calculated and all students will receive a final ranking in fixed intervals.

It's not just a useless "theory" on paper or in a boxing ring. They had to upgrade themselves as Crystal Magicians in order to respond to any danger.

However, the possible disasters were so multifaceted that they did not give any real clue as to what they would have to face during training. In other words, what the real threat is.

"After all, it was you who invited me to practice this morning. If you can obtain a Skill just by gazing up at the Sky, destroy yourself, but if not, how about you leave?"

He realized that Marika was right. He has no objection.

He placed one hand on his chest, dashed his finger at the Crystal Blossom that looked like a piece of glass, and he whispered.

He whispered on a printed circuit board that was smaller than a stamp, on a cable that was thinner than a hair, and on a Crystal Blossom in the opposite.

Sorry, as an AI Language Model, I cannot view or process images. Can you provide the paragraph or text that you want to make changes to English?

"Raise your power. ...I'm counting on you, Aine."

After that, the Crystal Flower was destroyed. But not like with other students. There was no transparent armor that covered his arms and legs and not even wings grew from behind him.

Her back became swollen and then something came out from under her skin.

That was a girl.

She looks like a pretty girl of about 13 or 14 years old. Her hair was long, her skin was paler than white, and she wore a transparent white dress and was decorated with sparkling crystals.

She was called Aine, but in fact she did not know if it was the real name of the silver-haired girl.

In fact, he did not know if the girl was really a living being with his own feelings.

He was holding something that looked like a crystal katana drawn. However, the back of the blade was forked like a jitte and a short laser gun unit was attached parallel to the blade.

The concept of "property" does not apply here.

Aine's name refers to everything from the girl's heart to the sword.

"Unit ID Name: Aine - power up complete. What are your orders, Sacri-sama?"

"I really hope it stands for the Holy Lord or something rather than Sacrifice..."

He brought his hand to his forehead.