Crystania: Legend of the Gods’ King 1 (novel)

Crystania:Legend of the Gods’ King 1
Author	Hide Shirai
Illustrations	Yukitoshi Hotani
Japanese title	クリスタニア 神王伝説〈上〉
Romanized title	shin'ō densetsu kurisutania 〈ue〉
Publication information
Publisher	MediaWorks
Original release	27 December 1995
Chapters	Prologue (プロローグ) Awakening of the Gods’ King (神王覚醒) The Six Visitors (６人の来訪者) The End of the Feast (宴の終わり) For Certain (あるじのために)
Pages	245
ISBN-10	4-07-304119-3
ISBN-13	978-4073041191
Novels
← Previous	Legend of Crystania
Next →	Legend of the Gods’ King 2

Crystania: Legend of the Gods’ King 1 is a light novel written by Hide Shirai and illustrated by Yukitoshi Hotani, based on the original Crystania novels by Ryo Mizuno. The Gods’ King 1 is the sixth novel in the Crystania novel series. It takes place about the same time as Legend of Crystania and before Legend of the Gods’ King 2, and largely follows the same events as Legend of Crystania, but through Boakes’ eyes, rather than Redon’s. It was released in December 1995.

The story was also told through other media, a manga by Akira Himekawa, an audio drama, and anime.

Synopsis

　A fleet of Marmo ships find themselves underneath a giant insurmountable cliff after a voyage of several months. In frustration, or desperation, Ashram calls out to the gods of the land and one god, Barbas, answers his call. Eventually the land in front of the fleet lowers and the former Marmo people and dark fae are able to access the land. Ashram tells Pirotess that this is because he made a pact with Barbas.

　Centuries later the lowered lands have been cultivated and are now called Beldia and is home to the former Marmo, now called the People of the Dark, and the original inhabitants of the land; Barbas' followers of the Tribe of the Fierce Tiger. In Dayton, the land's castle, a dark elf named Sheru awakens next to her king, who has been in a slumber for centuries in his throne room. Ruins, captain of Beldia's Knights of Darkness comes in with a shaman of the Tribe of Duality (formerly Beldia's opponents), called Muha. The shaman has a Chaos Ring with him and uses it on Sheru's king, who suddenly awakens. However, it is not the king she knew, but the Gods’ King Barbas. Sheru flees the place and snatches the Chaos Ring from Muha. During the escape, however, Ruins strikes her with the king's sword, which leaves her a nasty wound.

　Elsewhere, on the main continent of Crystania near the Beldia border there are several forts of the Fang of the Animal mercenary band. At one of them, Fort Adele, Boakes is stationed. Boakes is haunted by the loss of his wife Forte and their child. He wonders if this is something he will have to endure every Cycle and he has grown numb because of that thought. Suddenly, while Boakes is sleeping, Beldia does another attack on the fort. Boakes rushes out to fight and is assisted by Jenoba, a female follower of the animal god Fortino, who uses her wings to assist from the sky. Jenoba and Boakes grow suspicous of what they see; their army is vastly outnumbered which it shouldn't be and the two Tribe of Duality members who were standing on lookout had gone. They deduce the Tribe of Duality betrayed the Fang of the Animal and joined Barbas. Realizing they don't stand a chance, the two mercenaries decide to leave the fort behind.

　Boakes and Jenoba, after having fled Fort Adele and still unsure where to go next, spot a dark elf and attack her—dark elves aren't native to Crystania, thus this dark elf must be of Barbas' army of foreigners; the People of the Dark. Not long after, three of Barbas' followers attack them and a battle ensues. Again not much later, three animalmasters of the Fang of the Animal arrive and together they defeat Barbas' men. One of the animalmasters is Rome, who invites them to Fort Ungaro. Rome is originally a follower of the animal god Urus and his mission in Crystania is to eliminate chaos. He and the others are on their way north, to check on an earthquake near the border with Da’nan. After Rome and the others leave northwards, the dark elf introduces herself to Boakes and Jenoba as "Sheru", which means "someday" in her native language.

　At night, Boakes and Jenoba, with Sheru, take a rest. Jenoba secretly lets Sheru escape, but when Boakes finds out the next morning he reminds Jenoba that Barbas' Fierce Tigers seemed to be Sheru's enemy too. They then go look for her. Eventually Boakes finds Sheru and Jenoba facing a group of six adventurers. Sensing no hostility from the six adventurers, Boakes and Jenoba converse with them rather than engage in battle. They learn that the six adventurers are from Da’nan, the “Lost Land” that was once Fuji’s. With no place to rest and many questions about Crystania, the six adventurers, Redon, Kwairde, Nasare, Aderishia, Obier and Raifan, are allowed to tag along for the time being. Boakes asks Sheru what her wish is and she answers it is to defeat Barbas, the Gods’ King. She informs Boakes that Barbas is no longer an animal god, and that her King, the Drifting King, is his new vessel and that Muha of the Tribe of Duality used an artefact, a Chaos Ring, to let Barbas take over her King's body. Boakes, being an “Approver” of the animal god Direon, approved Sheru's wish (sort of Crystania's equivalent of "legalizing" this wish/mission).

　The party now consisted of nine members. On the way to Fort Ungaro, Boakes and Jenoba were reunited with others from Fort Adele, including Centurion Matisse and Brahim, further increasing the size of their party. Matisse tells them they can't get into Ungaro right now, as its being besieged by about 300 Beldians. Matisse and the others are gathering Fang of the Animal mercenaries for a counter-attack and the party wants to join. He takes the party to a camp of gathered mercenaries. There, Boakes meets with Rome again, who still intends to find and seal the six adventurers. Boakes sends him away, saying the six are five days north of their current location.

　Four days since the party arrived, Matisse proposes their attack plan: part of their army will emerge from the forest to attack the Beldian army, and then lure them in the forest. Then, the remaining part of the army will reunite with the mercenaries in Fort Ungaro and pincer the Beldian army. The idea was originally Redon's, however he wanted Matisse to propose it to the army for a higher chance of it being accepted. The strategy was met with scepticism—the Fang of the Animal never used tactics before, they just went all-out—but it was eventually accepted. Redon and Obier were put in Matisse's group. The others were put in the group that was to reunite with the mercenaries in the fort.

　On a hill elsewhere, two leaders in Barbas' army—Ruins of the Knights of Darkness and Garudi of the Tribe of the Fierce Tiger—are overlooking Fort Ungaro when a knight informs them the Fang of the Animal has suddenly attacked. Garudi feels like his forces are more than enough to deal with the attack, and he mockingly asks Ruins to not interfere. Ruins initially stays behind, but later decides to meddle in the attack, after recalling a possible revelation of Barbas that only he had heard. When his knight inquires, Ruins merely says Fort Ungaro will disappear. Around Fort Ungaro, the Fang of the Animal are winning against the Beldians. Sheru encounters Ruins, but the latter decides to flee after Sheru's summons the Frau, the spirit of ice.

　A grand feast is held to celebrate the Fang of the Animal's victory. Matisse tells everyone the idea behind the strategy was originally Redon's, who, along with his companions, is then finally accepted as a Fang member. Some time after this, a woman named Rio, a leader of the Tribe of the Great Snake, arrives in the fort with companions to lend their aid in the battle against Barbas. However, since their tribes mission is to protect Crystania from outsiders, she demanded that Sheru, her approver Boakes and the six adventurers leave the fort in exchange for the tribe's aid. Not long after the foreigners and Boakes and Jenoba leave, a white flash strikes Fort Ungaro, completely destroying the fort and most of the mercenaries in there. Observing the power of the attack, Sheru understands only Barbas can be behind it. Following this, animalmasters of the Fierce Tiger tribe attack the survivors of Barbas' attack. On the battlefield, Boakes, Jenoba and Sheru are reunited with Matisse, Kwairde and Obier, but not Redon, Nasare, Raifan and Aderishia. They search around the battlefield for a while, until Jenoba spots Nasare. The sorcerer is facing Rome, who is tightly holding on the Aderishia in an attempt to seal her. Redon and Raifan are also there, trying to save Aderishia, but without success.

　Following the desolation of Fort Ungaro, the survivors gather at Fort Roma. There, the parties of Boakes and Redon decide to attack Beldia along with all of the Fang of the Animal mercenaries at the fort. After the attack on Beldia, the mercenaries will return to the Fort, while Boakes, Jenoba, Sheru, Nasare and Redon go after Barbas in Dayton. The next morning, about six hundred mercenaries charge down the Gods’ Wall, most of them using their animalforms or talents to descend down the enormous cliff. When the enemy finally is within firing range, Matisse gives the order to fire arrows at the still unsuspecting Beldian army. The mercenaries overwhelm the Beldians, taking full advantage of their ambush. Jenoba, however, notices a dark-clad army approaching the battlefield, and leading them is Ruins. Ruins sends his lieutenant Giller to charge ahead, while he engages in a duel with Redon. The Knigts of Darkness' appearance changed the flow of battle, but the mercenaries still had the upper hand.

　Redon and Ruins duelled for about ten minutes, until Ruins decided the whole battle is lost and takes his leave. About ten days of travel later, Redon and the others finally arrive at Dayton, acquire some costumes of the capital's guards with help from Nasare's magic, and inflitrate the city. Sheru guides them to a temple of Myrii, the god of war, where they meet Father Vien, and rest there for the night. Sheru hands Nasare the Chaos Ring so he can analyze it. Nasare says the soul of the Drifting King has probably been driven into another world and may have completely dissolved. He also says that the Chaos Ring can't be activated without the proper ritual.

　The next morning Boakes and the others set out to the royal castle. They are spotted by a dark elf, but Nasare takes him out. When the party finally stands face to face with Barbas in the Dayton castle, Redon asks Barbas if he led him here. Barbas replies he did not, yet Redon now stands in front of him. He calls Redon the perfect servant, admires Redon's growth since coming to Crystania, and wonders if they're not cut from the same cloth. Redon doesn't know how to respond. Sheru summons Valkyrie, thereby starting the battle. The party appears to be no match for Barbas: a feather attack by Jenoba only hurts Jenoba herself, Nasare gets turned to stone, and Boakes is struck by Barbas' sword, the Demon Sword “Soul Crusher”. Sheru is at a loss about what to do, untill she hears a familiar voice, the voice of her Drifting King, tell her to use the Demon Sword and drive it into the Drifting King's body. An exhausted Sheru takes the sword, lifts it, charges at Barbas, and plunged the sword in the Drifting King's chest, thus defeating Barbas.

　The battle has attracted Barbas' followers, so Boakes, Redon, Nasare and Jenoba decide to get out fast. Sheru, at first, wants to die alongside her king, but later changes her mind as she is the only one left who remembers her king the way he truly was. She then escapes together with the others. When the guards get in the room they see the Drifting King's body with the Demon Sword stuck in his chest. Upon closer inspection, they see the king is smiling.

Characters appearing

In order of appearance.

• Pirotess
• Ashram
• Barbas
• Sheru
• Ruins
• Muha
• Boakes
• Matisse
• Forte (memory)
• Jenoba
• Sheru
• Rome
• Redon
• Aderishia
• Raifan
• Obier
• Nasare
• Kwairde
• Brahim
• Rappato
• Garudi
• Giller
• Lofel
• Rio
• Derico
• Vien

Gallery

Artwork from the novel.

Colour illustration of Boakes and Jenoba Coloured spread with Sheru, Redon and Jenoba Coloured spread with Barbas and Sheru with Soul Crusher Ashram and Sheru under the Gods’ Wall Ruins Boakes Sheru Boakes Garudi and Ruins Fang of the Animal members Jenoba (left), Matisse (right) and Lofel (top) Boakes (top), Sheru (left) and Jenoba (bottom) Boakes and Redon