novelParasite Kill >> Battle for Liberation Within Manhattan (3)
| ← Ch.133 | Ch.135 → |
The university had a lot of straight hallways and the Bullmites could only just barely fit their large armored forms around the corners. It was not conducive to nimble movements that used excellent footwork to approach while moving from cover to cover. They could not avoid the rapid-fire light coming from the two cannons.
"As usual, the star of the battle is the Elite. Oh ho ho!"
"More importantly, watch your head. Seeing a fancy Nau Yoke idol's head smashing through the ceiling and fluorescent lights is one hell of a visual!"
This seemed to be the logic of a Pilot Elite born in the age of Objects.
The powered suit was unstoppable while tilting its head at a diagonal angle but still scraping its ringlet curl head against the low ceiling. Instead of individual ingenuity, it was direct firepower backed by technology and resources that eliminated the threat. Without even using cover, she ruled the battlefield with the simple idea that a strong offense was the greatest defense.
"I can't believe they would gather all the civilians in one place and then send their unmanned weapons there..."
"Give them enough time and those monsters will decide to use them as hostages. Let's end this before any bored wives are tied to one of those rodeo machines made of composite armor."
"? You are being awfully malicious this time. Oh ho ho. Has the Legitimacy Kingdom been teaching you to feel more hostile?"
That said, Heivia's group had to think about more than just the fight against the Martinis. Their top priority was getting Oh Ho Ho's father, Royce, out of Columbia University.
Unlike a middle or high school, universities gave the students a lot more freedom, but that increased the risk to them. Some of the faded posters on the bulletin boards were asking for information on missing people. That included a journalism club that had gone missing after leaving for a battlefield country (in the name of gathering materials, but who knows what they were thinking).
"Once we're done with this, you really will work your fingers to stop the Manhattan and Capulet, won't you!?"
"Oh ho ho.... I would really rather do that right away, but the doctors and counselors are all stopping me."
"Only a sage living deep in the mountains can control their own heart."
"I really wish all of you would stop treating this perfect international idol like she has a father complex."
"Wait, did you just add another trait in there? Idol, Elite, busty, father complex... how many scoops of ice cream are on this cone?"
It seemed idols needed to be multi-talented in this age.
They checked inside a nearby classroom and saw a few frightened students with their hands in the air. The shelters for the gathered civilians were apparently in the larger facilities like lecture halls and gyms.
"... We really should have gone there right away. Oh ho ho."
"And where exactly is 'there'? Will we have to check each one in turn?"
That was easy enough to say, but Columbia University had several dozen schools from both the liberal arts and the sciences, so it was an enormous educational organization with more than 20, 000 teachers and students. Even a low estimate for the number of school buildings and related facilities on campus could not be counted on your fingers. Oh Ho Ho's rapid-fire beam cannons were quite effective, but they could not get overly optimistic. For one thing, she was wielding prototype assassination weapons and those large-caliber, high-power cannons were poorly suited for close ranges. And just like the Bullmites, the powered suit could not move freely inside the complex indoor environment.
If the Bullmites used the coordination of their simple circuits to all jump out at once, the entire situation could be turned on its head. It would be very bad if the unmanned weapons used their lack of a life to carry an anti-tank chemical warhead with them. Whatever the case, they wanted to avoid wandering around if it could be avoided.
Heivia thought for a bit.
"First, let's head to the cafeteria. With this many civilians here, they'll have to do something about the food. If there's a memo in the kitchen listing where they're sending all the food, we won't have to wander this educational labyrinth without any kind of hint."
"Heivia, you do tend to handle everything perfectly as long as an Object doesn't show up, " said Myonri.
"Oh ho ho. In other words, he is useless in this age of Objects."
"Just so you know, I'm going to remember what you say here!" shouted Heivia, but they easily ignored him.
Now that they had a plan, they walked across a pathway and ran into some masses of composite armor as soon as they entered a different school building. It was those Bullmites, but while scraping her tilted head against the ceiling panels and wielding her rapid-fire beam cannons like dual pistols, the 4m ringlet curls came to a stop.
They formed two perfect rows.
It was not that they had been stopped by congestion. This formation was clearly intentional. And then they made a coordinated charge like a train.
"Why you-... !!"
Oh Ho Ho quickly fired her two rapid-fire beam cannons while her extra-large boobs jiggled, but the brilliant beams of light only hit the leading pair. The amount of fist-sized melted holes grew and those shields crumbled like a melted sugar sculpture, but the next pair of identical Bullmites now took the lead. Then the process repeated. If just one of the unmanned weapons reached the powered suit before they were all turned to Swiss cheese by the horizontal hail of beams, they would win.
Unmanned weapons did not fear death.
The Bullmites were made to carry equipment or act as barricades, so they did not hesitate to use themselves as shields. Those serverless yet coordinated monsters trampled their allies' remains and did not hesitate to take the lead even when they knew they would be trampled next.
"Crap, crap, crap!!"
"Wh-what do we do now!? If those futuristic beam weapons don't work, our shotguns and handguns aren't going to help at all!"
And lamenting their situation would not help improve it.
They could not expect mercy or pangs of conscience from unmanned weapons.
"Dammit!!"
Heivia fired handgun bullets into the lockers lining one wall of the hallway to break the locks. Changes of clothing, cellphones, video disks, and other student property spilled out across the floor.
"It doesn't matter what, just blow everything to pieces, Myonri!!"
A shotgun blasted toward the floor nearby. Several small pieces of shot flew out and instantly turned the personal possessions to scrap. They were forcibly torn to pieces and flew up into the air as small fragments.
Wildly moving metal fragments could interfere with EM and IR communications.
Compared to her Object, the powered suit's thick armor must not have been enough to keep out the fear. Oh Ho Ho crouched down as the threat approached, so the sizzling sound of the rapid-fire beam cannons ended. But a different loud noise erupted instead. The Bullmites had been accurately coordinating their movements to act as a single whole, but now they began running into each other like a multi-car pileup.
Myonri asked a hesitant question while watching the Bullmites self-destruct thanks to her efforts.
"Wh-what happened?"
"They weren't using their usual submarine mode, right? To move so smoothly without causing any congestion, they had to be coordinating the distance between them using IR or radar. Interfering with that using chaff naturally caused a major accident. C'mon, Oh Ho Ho! How long are you gonna lie there!? It's over!!"
"M-mghh... How could I let you see me like that?"
With shaky movements, the 4m killer weapon got up from its maiden-like crouching position. With a dull noise, her large head shattered a fluorescent light.
"One little prank caused all this? It may have been too soon for these toys to be fully automated. Oh ho ho."
"There's a prank where people shine a laser pointer in a soccer player or airplane pilot's eyes, right? What do you think would happen if you shined it into a vehicle lens from a walkway over the highway? I feel like all the arguments about these things are only focused on the plusses. It's scary."
Normal knives and bullets would not have their expected effect on unmanned weapons that were never alive to begin with. You needed to use a separate logic that only applied to them: magnetism, salt water, acid, high temperatures, rust, an insect infestation, etc.
If the Bullmites were coordinating over the radio, they would also notice when the transmissions ended. Thus, they could not relax just because they had wiped out the enemy here. Heivia's group hurried on to the cafeteria before reinforcements arrived.
They wanted to keep things quiet, but a loud rumbling burst out. Heivia and Myonri ducked down and saw that the 4m Oh Ho Ho had hit her forehead like a klutz.
"Goh?"
"Be careful when walking through doorways! You're already scraping your head on the ceiling!"
There was a giant silver refrigerator in the kitchen and the door was so covered in memos that they had no idea what its original color was.
"Here it is, here it is, " said Myonri."There are a lot of delivery records for gyms 1 through 3. They're all north of here."
"Only three?" asked Heivia."I thought they were gathering people from all over the city here."
"These gyms are huge facilities used for international basketball and hockey tournaments. Each one can hold tens of thousands of people."
... That meant it would be difficult to locate an individual in the crowd even if they did figure out which location he was in, but they had to think of this as a step forward.
"Father..."
"Hey, old man pandering idol. If you have time to give dreams to all those wrinkly people, then get to work."
"C-could you not falsely accuse my father of being old and wrinkly!?"
"Aren't you forgetting to deny the most important part?" asked Myonri."Weren't you claiming you didn't have a father complex!?"
While they argued, something rolled in through the kitchen's entrance. The cylinder was about the size of a hair spray can. It was a grenade with the pin and safety lever removed.
"Wait!"
They did not have time to question it.
The kitchen was immediately blown away.
Part 16
Heivia and the others were not the only ones hit by the blast and shockwave.
Wraith's group had used the building blueprint and the floral security cameras to make the attack, but they grimaced and held their ears as small pieces of wall materials fell on their heads.
"Frank! I said to use a nonlethal flashbang!"
"Don't blame him, Wraith. Flashbangs have had the harmful effects of their explosions reduced as much as possible, but the container still ruptures. They aren't as safe as they appear in movies and dramas. 110. And did you forget that using one in a kitchen runs the risk of damaging the gas pipe?"
Part 17
Despite the fierce gas explosion so nearby, Heivia's group was lucky in a few ways.
First, the blast had not been made more harmful with small metal balls like it would have been with a grenade or mine designed for military use.
Second, they had a 4m powered suit that would not budge even if an anti-personnel grenade detonated right in front of it.
Thus, the giant charming idol only had to lean over Heivia and Myonri to provide them with some makeshift shelter.
"Mghh. I was somewhat hopeful since the boobs actually jiggled, but this thing is heavy! Way too heavy!! How is this any different from a suspended ceiling trap!? It feels like I'm being suffocated with a thick plastic sheet filled with water!!"
"An idol and Elite is putting herself in harm's way to protect insignificant enemy soldiers, so I would expect a more emotional reaction. Oh ho ho."
An impact like that was apparently not even enough to cause any clothing damage on the 4m ringlet curl's special suit. She was entirely unscathed. While they argued, Oh Ho Ho raised her arm with a motion more mechanical than a machine's. She mercilessly aimed the right rapid-fire beam cannon toward the source of the grenade.
The swing of the arm was more important than the speed of the beam weapon itself.
Beyond the dust, a few figures fled from the sweeping series of short beams. When Oh Ho Ho prepared to supply the finishing blow, the rapid-fire beam cannon exploded in her hand since its barrel had been bent by the explosion. A capacitor had likely broken. The weapon had already looked like reinforced glass lab equipment with armor attached, so Heivia and Myonri cowered down as they watched it happen.
"Curse that prototype! It's like the urine sample bottle breaking in your hand!!"
"The hand is fragile because of all the joints, right?" said Myonri."I've heard armor craftsmen can judge someone's skill by checking there. But that thing's hand wasn't harmed at all when the weapon it was holding exploded..."
Oh Ho Ho provided no comment. She switched to the left cannon, but it did not respond. The 4m ringlet curls threw the remains of the unusable rapid-fire beam cannons. Those weapons were meant to be transported by truck and staked to the ground. They weighed more than the bar of a barbell, so throwing them made for more than enough of a weapon.
"Wraith..."
It may have been as inefficient as could be.
It may have only given away his position and condition to the enemy. Melly may have been the target they needed to suppress first and foremost.
But Heivia still raised his voice.
"Wraith Martini Vermouthspray!!"
"Hello, diligent avenger. I don't know what you're doing here, but did you really think I would just sit idly by while you caused such a scene? It does not matter how many people you have sent into this university. I will remove every last threat, one by one."
The explosion had destroyed both the wall and door. There was too much dust in the air to see. The cover and line-of-fire diagram in their heads had fallen apart. Heivia could only think of one option.
"Move out front, Oh Ho Ho. You're our shield!"
"Oh ho ho. I see you are no more intelligent than a drone. You're the type that gets angry when AI takes over his job."
Despite her storm of complaints, Oh Ho Ho understood the situation. Her large head scraped along the ceiling and her boobs jiggled in sync with her pace as she took a step ahead of Heivia and Myonri and into the dust.
The deep sound of metal on metal immediately followed.
"Oh... ?"
It was a blast into the center of her chest. The powered suit's back wobbled in front of Heivia and Myonri's eyes. She then fell onto her butt. The potatoes were nearly crushed by their ally's giant butt, but they just barely managed to escape to either side. She had been shot by something incredible. Myonri reached a hand toward the collapsed Oh Ho Ho on instinct, but Heivia was different. There was no helping Oh Ho Ho when she was covered by thick composite armor and pseudo-moisture-retaining silicone woven with cellulose nanofibers. If they did not first do something about whoever had fired on her, more shots would be fired and there would be no stopping the demolition.
But as Heivia ducked low and charged into the dust, someone charged in below his chin. It was a small figure with a black uniform and long blonde hair. She had rushed in just like he had.
"Wrai-..."
A heavy impact ran through his right temple before he could shout.
It was not caused by Wraith Martini Vermouthspray's right hand or left hand. The aide young man had acted separately from her and swung a giant anti-materiel rifle's stock into Heivia's temple. It was a giant weapon meant to drop any opponent in one hit, just like that monstrous magnum made from a modified grenade launcher. But the gun's recoil was so strong that it was hard to recover if he missed at close range. He knew that. He did, but relying on your insurance and then not killing the enemy in a single shot was always a mistake.
(Gh. )
Heivia's vision shook and he could not control his collapsing body. But at the same time, his arm moved like an independent life form. It grabbed the uniform covering Wraith's flat chest and used his shifting body weight to pull her down with him. After they rolled along the hallway floor, Heivia was on top. He pressed his handgun into the center of her chest and she pushed up his chin with a small self-defense handgun.
There was no fear in Heivia's face.
The only emotion there was anger.
"What's wrong, Wraith? Did your murderer's luck finally run out?"
"Are you going to shoot me?"
"Did you think you'd get a chance to negotiate, crazy girl? I've dreamed of this chance. I don't care about that active self-denial or whatever. I haven't forgotten what you did!!"
"But unfortunately, I'm much too busy to mess with you. Melly."
Heivia had perfectly taken the mounted position, but then his body flew straight up. This was not the same as the Tomoe Nage of the Asian Island Nation. A powerful impact struck his back and he had trouble breathing. Gravity seemed to lose its hold on him and his back slammed into the ceiling like he was being thrown around by turbulence on a passenger plane.
Even now, the brown girl named Melly Martini Extradry must have been worried about the potatoes' eyes on her because she folded up her arms like a fetus on top of her giant ring. She hid her mouth with her thin game system and half-tearfully trembled as she explained.
"667. D-did you forget? This is a giant Object, so I can do that by shaking the balanced city just a bit using the gyro controls."
"Dammit... Are you saying she's the Elite!?"
"The Manhattan 000 belongs to me. I am only lending it to Capulet."
Once he felt the tug of gravity return, Heivia immediately let go of his handgun. Comics and movies often depicted characters being slammed into the ground while holding a drawn sword or a gun with the safety off, but in reality, the force of the impact could easily have you stab or shoot yourself in the gut or thigh. Holding onto your weapon too tenaciously and accidentally committing harakiri was a stereotypical mistake given in military textbooks.
"... Gah!!"
He braced for impact, but the hallway ceiling was still more than three meters from the floor. The impact passing through his entire body was far greater than from being tripped or thrown to the ground. He could not fully escape it, so he ended up groaning on the floor. Meanwhile, Wraith aimed her toy-like self-defense handgun at him from a few meters away.
"Check." The little demon smiled."You poor avenger who could not escape the standard framework. As usual, the likes of you begin to lose as soon as an Object is involved."
"Damn... you."
"Well, that's what happens when Quenser isn't around. Not that there wasn't room for criticism in that combat engineer."
"Damn you!!!!!!"
Heivia roared in anger and forced his body up even though he was still having trouble breathing.
A 9mm bullet stabbed mercilessly into the center of his chest.
After being shot from outside arm's reach, the delinquent soldier collapsed backwards. His troubled breathing was disrupted even further and his consciousness flashed in and out. If not for the pocket containing his military flashlight and mobile device, his ribs would have broken and his organs would have been pierced.
But in addition to that, Heivia was not given time to scream.
"Keep your head down, " whispered Wraith Martini Vermouthspray.
Something pierced through the wall. A shot was fired in through the window. The flying sparks looked like a handheld firework or a smoke grenade. It was an armor-piercing incendiary round that could damage military vehicles and unmanned weapons by shooting through the armor and then frying the internal circuitry or fuel tank.
If Wraith had not knocked Heivia out of the way with her self-defense handgun, it would have hit him in the side of the head.
"Didn't I tell you I was too busy to mess with you? The threat we detected was that third party. To be honest, what you are up to is irrelevant."
"What is the meaning of this... ? And who is that!? How many people are going to jump into the same bed at this crazy orgy!?"
"Don't ask me. And for the Information Alliance, that may make this the most fearsome presence here."
Part 18
"Tch."
That person quietly clicked their tongue while moving their eye from the scope of a sniper rifle that used a lot of metal to increase the weight and thus the stability. Targeting people felt so much different from targeting things. That was why specialized snipers still existed in an age so full of machinery. No matter how much support a target received, they would still act on a whim.
... It seemed one of them had an anti-materiel weapon. If they deduced the sniper's location from the line of fire and a shootout began, the sniper would be overpowered. Not only would that weapon have a greater range, but its destructive power meant walls could not be trusted for cover.
This person had never been good at sniping. They had tried to increase their ability with the support of the embedded programs, but they doubted they could beat a specialist. It was the same reason professional cameramen existed in an age when anyone could snap a photo with autofocus and anti-blurring measures.
Challenging someone to a battle in their area of expertise would be the height of folly.
The opportunity for an upset only arrived once the other side was dragged down to your own field of expertise.
"Now, it's time to use this Hand Axe."
Part 19
Irregular tremors suddenly ran through the entire school building.
They could not approach the windows with the possibility of a sniper, but as far as they could tell by peeking out from behind the pillars, several clouds of smoke were swelling out like cotton candy.
"Explosions?"
"It's no use. You settle down too, Frank. In this age of cameras and sensors, I doubt they would try to hide behind a cloud of smoke with no chemical effects whatsoever. I bet that's a diversion while they sneak in through a different entrance."
Wraith looked annoyed, but her explanation seemed separated from her emotions.
"In the worst case, they might have even threatened some civilians into running through there, so don't fire just because you see a shadow in the dust."
"Tch. Hey, crazy girl, quit acting like you represent humanity's good side."
"What, you're going to fight me even with all this going on? If you don't want to be caught in a crossfire, I'd keep those thoughts to yourself, gentleman."
Casually cruel Myonri nonchalantly aimed her weapon at Heivia to deter any rash actions and then she spoke in her usual small animal way.
"Wh-what are they trying to do... ?"
"Who knows. 380."
Myonri's fearful question was bluntly answered by the brown girl who was still shrinking down on top of her ring. That answer carried a lot more weight coming from New York's defense commander who had full use of the security systems.... Of course, that was assuming her active self-denial had not gotten the better of her and her word could be trusted. It was of course possible it was all a lie.
The black uniform girl shrugged while staying far enough away from the windows to avoid being shot.
"How are we supposed to know their goals when we don't know who they are? But based on an offline search of the explosion's acoustic signature, that was Hand Axe, a plastic explosive used by the Legitimacy Kingdom. So do you have any ideas?"
Heivia Winchell's temples writhed irregular when he heard that.
A plastic explosive.
Hand Axe.
"... What?"
"The accuracy of such a simple search isn't the best, but a chemical analysis looking for carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen in the dirt at the blast site would give us the answer. Although I don't think we have enough time for that."
"555. By the way."
The brown girl in a two-piece surgical gown made of crimson paper cut in while cheerfully sitting with her butt inside the giant ring. Since her arms and legs were sticking out of the ring more than before, she had either grown accustomed to the stimulation or she was letting her guard down around them.
"From a strategic viewpoint, there is no reason at all to attack Columbia University if your goal is to take control of the Manhattan 000 as the world's largest Object. 200. So I doubt they're plotting to forcibly stop or hijack the Object. They might be after me since I've lent it to Capulet, but very few people know I'm also the Elite."
"Then what else is there?"
"Sorry about answering your question with a question, but why are you here?"
Heivia intentionally maintained an expressionless face, but Myonri thoughtlessly glanced over at the 4m ringlet curl powered suit. The giant girl spoke up while scraping her tilted head along the ceiling panels and fluorescent lights.
"... Father?"
"Hm. I can't see who that is due to the silly powered suit, but I'm guessing it's the model herself inside." Wraith exhaled from her shapely nose."Well, if you'd given up on negotiating with Melly, I guess it makes sense you'd go for Capulet since it's the only other thing with power over the Manhattan 000. Given the development history and compatibility between Capulet and Juliet, it would also make sense you could hijack control of Manhattan using the Gatling 033's Pilot Elite. She would be able to approach the AI Network from a different direction than the Martini Series. Given that, the attacker's objective would be the Manhattan 000's destruction. But instead of sinking it themselves, they're trying to make it self-destruct by triggering a fight between the people on the inside... in other words, us."
"No offense to you educated people who can achieve climax with nothing but your imagination, but isn't that a bit of a leap? How could a little commotion between us cause this colossal weapon to blow up?"
"If that concept machine contains who I think it does, then I'm not overestimating this. The Juliet's experimental results continue to strengthen Capulet in real time. That puts her much closer to it than mere monitors like us. She might be able to take on the thousands of Martinis singlehandedly. If the Gatling 033's Juliet and its highly-compatible Pilot Elite attempt to bring down the Capulet AI Network using its vulnerabilities, they could be a threat to the Information Alliance as a whole. The network's hardware and scope are a mystery because its advantage is limited to the online world. That prevents anyone from pulling the power cable to shut it down if they start to lose." Wraith sounded somewhat exasperated."Honestly, this is the problem with the age of Objects. The importance of specific individuals can vary so wildly. Aren't you here to collect her father because your plan hinges on her individual performance?"
"..."
It was the same as with Piranirie and Taratua. Whether or not the Martini Series had a conscience or good sense, they could still do the calculations. Their character could not be trusted, but there would be no mistake in the actual analysis.
So it was best to base your thoughts on those assumptions.
What would cause the most chaos in this situation?
You only had to kill Oh Ho Ho's father in the shelter which was supposedly safe thanks to the Martini Series' management. It no longer mattered who the direct culprit was. Had the Martini Series made any mistakes? Had the Information Alliance as a whole wanted it? Once Oh Ho Ho was overwhelmed with anger, hatred, and suspicions, all of her skills could pass through the Information Alliance's Capulet and send the Manhattan out of control.
The most frightening thing was not the amount of firepower on hand or the number of people killed.
It was the same as the samurai who had once tried to open up the Island Nation or a certain world-famous musician. When a single blade or bullet bared its fangs against an innocent person, it would create an incalculable shock. This faceless person who had leaned out over the game board was trying to do that intentionally instead of by chance.
Individuals were supported by a large system, but they also determined the outcome of wars.
This reversal was built on the rules of an already twisted era.
"You're kidding, right? Then their target really is Oh Ho Ho's father!?"
"B-but they don't know where their target is in this giant university, right? Then we have time. We came to this cafeteria kitchen because we needed to work out the shelter locations from the food delivery routes."
Wraith rejected Myonri's words.
Had the crazy person gained a sharper mind by sacrificing someone like the crazy person she was? She had to have noticed that the timid girl's statement contained far too much wishful thinking.
"I wouldn't be so sure. If this lawless hunter's specialty is bombs, then they can achieve their objective by indiscriminately blowing up each facility in turn.... No, those diversion explosions may have been part of the plan. Not only did it get them safely inside the university, but they may have been observing how people reacted."
"What do you mean?"
"The shelters will be the most densely packed areas. They would react most noticeably to a commotion. It's like sending out sonar to locate the enemy. They just have to cause an explosion, note where the most voices came from, and then attack there. And that means we can't relax."
"Right. So the key is the screams of children. 497."
Melly casually supplied that extra information with her butt inside the large ring and while wearing only a crimson surgical gown. She was much more relaxed than when she had first met the potatoes. She built interpersonal relationships quickly. It probably would not be long until she reached the ennui stage.
She breathed a warm breath on the flat game system's screen and wiped it off with the paper over her chest.
"Universities are attended by a higher age group than middle or high schools, so if you ignore the few students that skipped several grades, there are almost no small children there. 119. So if 100 or 1000 children begin to cry and shout in response to the explosion, you know that has to be a shelter full of outsiders."
Another deep explosion rang out and the floor of the university hallway shook.
Everyone there exchanged a glance.
"Ignoring this much evidence would be harder than finding proof of infidelity on your lover's smartphone and pretending you never saw anything."
"And even if we're completely wrong, if that third party has plastic explosives and is headed to a shelter full of civilians, we have to stop them no matter what their reasons are."
"Yes, that's right. That's exactly right."
Heivia adjusted his grip on his handgun.
And he did not hesitate to aim it at Wraith.
"But this is a separate issue."
Multiple dry gunshots rang out at close range.
There was so little hesitation in the pull of the trigger that Myonri was unable to react despite being right next to him.
And the aide young man stood in front of the black-uniformed girl with long blonde hair.
He had used his large anti-materiel rifle as a shield to forcibly restrain the cheap 9mm bullets.
"Did that satisfy you a little?"
Wraith did not bat an eye despite having her life targeted so suddenly.
Had the Martini Series always been like that? Or had she been modified by some external factor?
"We just lost one of our valuable weapons thanks to you. You'll have to work to make up for it."
Part 20
The university had a long history, so the complex and inscrutable building additions made over that time had naturally transformed it into a labyrinth. Gyms 1 through 3 were located relatively close to the edge of campus, but they were surrounded by artificial woods which made the main entrance hard to find. It was so bad that the second story walkways were more well-known.
The gyms were large enough to be used for international tournaments, including the opening and closing ceremonies. They were squares with sides measuring more than 50 meters, so they were more like small stadiums.
"Th-they must have 50, 000 people in each one, " said Myonri."That's like a small town. Won't it be hard for the attacker to find their target even if they are in here?"
"Melly. What do your precious cameras say?"
The swim ring girl wearing a two-piece surgical gown made of crimson paper answered the black-uniform girl's question while holding her precious game system to her chest.
"There is one weakness to cameras that look down from above: extremely dense crowds. The people end up blocking the view of the other people. We really need to find a better countermeasure for molesters on the subway during rush hour."
"It won't be that tricky."
For whatever reason, Wraith and Melly had stopped attacking Heivia's group with the Bullmites, Multi-Gyros, and other unmanned weapons. That made travel much easier.
... Of course, whether they were always that way or they had been broken by active self-denial, could anything the Martini Series said or did be trusted? That fundamental question remained.
"As you said, the gyms are crammed full of people. I doubt the blast would spread very well even if you did set off a bomb there. Even paper can act as a bulletproof vest if you have hundreds of layers. Human flesh is no different. Enough of it and it'll stop an explosive blast. If this person wants to kill them all at once, they won't place the bomb on the flat floor."
"Th-then... ?"
Did Myonri want to hear the answer or not? Or was she afraid to not hear it? Whatever the case, Heivia winked at her and pointed straight up.
"The ceiling. Have the bomb dangle down like a deadly disco ball and it can send its shrapnel down on everyone without the wall of people stopping it."
"That would be easiest. 177. The ceiling is reinforced with narrow steel beams arranged like a jungle gym. A human could walk on them, but quadrupedal unmanned weapons like the Bullmites couldn't."
"They want to kill my father... And they're willing to kill 50, 000 people at once to do it... ?"
"You don't need to focus your justice on the general public, " smoothly said Wraith."The one family member is more important to you than 50, 000 strangers, right? There's more to relationships than numbers. There's nothing wrong with feeling that way."
Her words were not at all blunted and tore sharply into the human heart, so they may have been similar to those of a high-IQ serial killer. They seemed to carry deep meaning, but the more you thought about them, the more your mind was destroyed by a poison of your own making.
And just then, a flat electronic beep came from the game system held by the brown girl. She glanced down at the flat screen in her hands as if peering down at her own chest.
"114. Mr. Royce's phone has sent out a signal. It appears to be a phone call."
"Oh, did you give him his phone back when you released him and sent him to the general shelter? What a pain."
Wraith sounded annoyed, but the swim ring girl continued her report.
"Any idea who he might be calling? 251."
"..."
The 4m ringlet curls trembled as if stirring.
What was the girl inside the thick armor doing?
"Don't answer it, " sharply warned Wraith."There is a chance the unknown third party is monitoring Royce's phone to gather information. We would gain nothing by letting them know we're here."
She knew that.
She really did.
The beeping never seemed to end and that seemed to reveal Royce's worry for his daughter. Oh Ho Ho seemed to be clenching her teeth. Finally, it automatically switched over to voice mail and the game system in Melly's hands stopped beeping.
Oh Ho Ho spoke with a tremor in her voice.
"I'm glad..."
Myonri tried to say something, but she did not manage to get anything out.
"I'm so glad he's alive..."
Heivia sighed quietly like those forced-out words were messing with his mood. He wanted to maintain his purity as an avenger, but it was not working. And he gave a warning with that look on his face.
"Hey, don't relax just because you know he's alive. This isn't over until we've actually saved him."
"I know that. Ho... oh ho ho. You don't have to tell me that."
Melly got them back on topic while kicking her brown legs now that she was used to the potatoes' rude gazes.
"The signal is coming from the second gym. Unless we assume more is going on than meets the eye, Mr. Royce should be there. But only we should know this. 125. There are three gyms and each one holds more than 50, 000 people. Now, does the attacker have any way of accurately locating Mr. Royce?"
"Didn't you mention the possibility of them monitoring his phone? Well, that's just a possibility, so let's set aside the accurate information about that middle-aged man's location. Which one would be the easiest to infiltrate?"
"551. The middle one. The second gym. You can reach the ceiling's steel beams through a maintenance hatch on the roof. That should be far easier than climbing up from below."
"Then that's the place."
"W-we're basing it on which one is easier? Ho... oh ho ho. What happened to my father's life being in danger!?"
"I really don't need that giant camel toe in my face, so back up some. And did you forget? There are more than 50, 000 people in each gym. Even if there's no direct damage in one, what will happen if they learn of unthinkable casualties in the one right next to it? It's an identical facility on the same campus. They'll assume they're next, so they won't just stay put like they were told. But the exits are narrow, so they'll start trampling each other and we'll end up with tens of thousands of people caught in the secondary and tertiary damages."
"..."
"During the winter, the chickens on a farm will gather together for warmth, but sometimes the group in the center will be crushed to death. This will be even more horrific than that."
They had a plan.
They of course had to keep an eye on the first and third gyms, but the second one was their top priority.
As seen at concert stadiums, it could take 15 to 30 minutes for tens of thousands of people to enter or leave a location. There was no time to evacuate everyone and unnecessary movement could lead the attacker to expedite their plan and start the detonation.
Melly Martini Extradry, the Pilot Elite and New York's defense commander, did not seem to have any strong feelings on the matter. She must have been worried about the battery because she hooked a hand-cranked generator to her flat game system and began cranking away.
"That powered suit and I won't be able to do much of anything on the narrow steel beams. 997. And we don't want to trigger a panic, so firing up from the floor filled with civilians would be a bad idea."
"I know that. Information Alliance or not, these are safe country civilians. I'm not digital enough to calmly fire within a sea of blood to complete my mission. Unlike a certain idiot who executed a civilian to save her own skin."
"With that in mind, I have a suggestion. The second gym is the easiest to infiltrate, but it also gives us an advantage. 656. Since the ceiling beams are connected to the flat roof by the maintenance hatch, you don't have to finish off the attacker there. You can drive them up onto the roof."
"... What?"
"That concept machine and I can function just fine on the flat roof. Your reports suggest this person is nimble enough to move from rooftop to rooftop, so they're almost certainly a flesh-and-blood human. I can hardly see how we would be overpowered in a direct fight. 176. It would be nice if we could just fire at them through the roof, but then the bullets could hit the civilians on the floor."
"Are you kidding, ring girl? You're going to fight on the front line? Didn't you say something about your spine being messed up?"
"202. Then try shooting me."
The brown girl readily said that despite having her butt inside the large ring and her only equipment being the crimson paper surgical gown and the game system. When he stared at her, wondering if she really understood the situation, she began trembling.
"Are you serious? I have more curly hairs in the corner of my room than I have a conscience. To be honest, it's hard to find any reason at all to hold back against any piece of shit with the Martini name."
"That's my point. You won't trust anything I say. 081. So the only way to teach you is through experience."
Heivia wrapped a thick and fluffy scarf around a nearby plastic bottle for a makeshift silencer, pressed it against the muzzle of his handgun, and immediately pulled the trigger.
It released a muffled gunshot, but it was not Melly or Wraith who looked surprised.
Melly Martini Extradry had her butt in the large ring and her hands and feet off the floor, so she could not move around properly. There was also nothing for her to hide behind. Nevertheless, her ring spun around like the coffee cups at an amusement park and cleanly avoided all three bullets.
"Are you okay? 444. I appreciate the thought to use a silencer, but when the noise and the actual recoil are different, I've heard you can let your guard down and hurt your wrist."
Her movement could not have been that fast.
But there was no way that could be explained away as a simple coincidence.
"655. To reveal the trick, I slightly tilted the Manhattan 000 below us. And unlike before, it wasn't enough to notice."
Melly softly exhaled and used her thin game system's L and R triggers to rotate her ring right and left.
"The world's largest Object is always a part of me. I take top priority. Even Capulet is only borrowing it from me. The internal parts that move the Manhattan 000 are essentially the same as the liquid inside this ring. 713. Okay? Are you familiar with carnivorous plants?"
"Carnivorous... plants?"
"Some plants can move quite quickly, like the Venus flytrap. That is done with turgor pressure, the movement of liquid between the cells. That isn't actually all that difficult to reproduce in a machine. And it's easier to manage in parallel than something with lots of old-fashioned motors and cranks. 409. It's also used as the catalyst for the quantum computer needed for the balance calculations to make sure it doesn't collapse under its own weight. In addition to lasers, Josephson junctions, and quantum dots, quantum bits can be managed with the NMR method using a liquid. You'll even see it mentioned in comics and novels."
Quantum computers and DNA computers were the two representative examples of non- von Neumann large-scale processors. Since they had selected something other than the Anastasia Processor that used cancer cells from Wraith's biological mother, the Information Alliance must have had its own internal competition there, but that was not the point.
"Did you think I was dressed like this for no reason? I control it through physical contact with this ring-shaped device. 333. Simply put, my blood contains the same liquid as the supercomputer. That was the only way to make up for what the game system alone couldn't do."
She had predicted the ballistic trajectory in advance.
The girl was one with Manhattan.
"I have perfect calculations and the ability to physically interfere with the field itself. Plus, I command every single unmanned weapon protecting the city of Manhattan. 144. Do you still think I wouldn't be useful in a fight?"
The Object was based on plants and the unmanned weapons were based on plants and animals. With the serverless artificial life forms and the simple circuits that used swarm intelligence, Manhattan was like a planet of machines.
Wraith did not seem all that surprised and cut in as if simply confirming what she already knew.
"But the Manhattan 000 must be too large to fire on a specific individual hiding in the shelter. You'll probably have to put together a unit of Bullmites and other unmanned weapons, but will the law enforcement regulations really be enough?"
"You must be kidding. These things' greatest advantage is a tactic that would run afoul of various treaties if you used it in war. In other words, artificial organic concentration."
The ring girl spun around the flat screen to show them. It displayed a graph about the contents of the air, but they did not want to think about what it meant.
"It's the same concept as fish and shellfish absorbing plankton and other toxins from the seawater and storing them in their stomach, but there is no limit when it comes to unmanned weapons. Because you don't have to worry about the lethal level. And the basic toxins can be found anywhere in the world. How many pollutants do you think you can find in the exhaust and dirty water in Manhattan alone? But it's not even a ten thousandth of the lethal level, so they say it's safe and you don't have to worry about it. 883. So just concentrate that down more than ten thousand times and you have a deadly weapon at zero cost. You can take a human life with the prick of a needle. I don't normally do that, though."
"I see. So that's why they have air purifiers. I thought that seemed out of place."
It was well known that the hollow point bullets banned by war treaties were commonly used by the police and thugs in cities. The line between humane and inhumane was easily changed for people's convenience.
Heivia breathed from his nose and fired twice more for good measure, but the result was exactly the same. When he saw Melly spin around in her ring, he decided any more would be a waste of ammo. And if the makeshift silencer broke, he would spread confusion through the attacker and civilians.
"If you're willing to go and get yourself killed, then be my guest. But your ass doesn't look too soft, so don't expect me to support it."
"Then I will look after it on my own. 111. The best way to shock malicious people is to do sensible things for nothing in return."
Was the entire Martini Series like this? She too was quite crafty.
The gyms were the size of indoor stadiums. They were as tall as four-story school buildings and they had metal emergency stairs on the outside.
The roof really was entirely flat. It had no slant whatsoever.
Was the attacker already here or would they be arriving later? There was no evidence one way or the other, but they did not have time to stand around.
"Let's act on the assumption that they're here. Myonri, come with me."
"O-okay."
"What should we do?"
Black-uniformed Wraith asked that, but Heivia only gave a snort of laughter.
"Wipe that smile off your face. Do you want me to shove this right up your ass? It doesn't matter if you were always crazy or if you were broken by that active self-denial stuff. I'm not going to trust the piece of shit that executed a supposed ally when she was told to."
"..."
"Whatever the case is now and whatever our original affiliations were, Quenser thought of you as an ally then and he risked his life to protect you from Manhattan's attack. And you shot him. While looking him right in the eye. That's not even war. None of that has changed. Don't forget that your actions are good or bad regardless of your reasons for doing them."
That was all.
Myonri fidgeted nervously as she listened, but Wraith did not bother with it any longer. Heivia left that lonely girl and slowly opened the square trap door attached to the flat roof.
After climbing through, he found quite a few steel beams arranged like a giant jungle gym.
Naturally, there was no stable floor. If he slipped, he would fall the four-story distance down to the ground level. And people filled the stacked second and third floors as well as the fields and courts. Everyone seemed to have enough space to lie down and stretch out, but if he fell, he could not avoid hitting someone.
"I see him directly below us, " softly said Myonri.
Among the shocking number of human heads, there was one person operating a smartphone. He stood out from the many other smartphone users because he was repeating the same short action over and over instead of focusing on typing text into social media.
"So that's Royce."
"How many times has he tried now? He must still be trying to call his daughter."
Of course, he would never get through since his daughter was not answering. They were on the same university campus, but he could not even get a single word to her.
But no matter how coldly he was being rejected, Royce showed no sign of irritation. He pressed the electronic device's screen against his forehead, shut his eyes, and seemed to wish for something before repeating the same action yet again. He was simply a father hoping for his family's safety.
"We definitely have to save him, don't we?" said Myonri in a quiet voice."Without even thinking about the four world powers or anything like that."
"We can't give her father special treatment. If we're doing this, we're saving all of them. It doesn't matter if the blast actually hits them or not. If there's an explosion somewhere, they'll panic and trample each other. It'll be worse than a swimming tournament full of sumo wrestlers. Once it starts, tens of thousands could die."
Once they climbed down, they found it was harder to walk than expected. The steel beams had lots of small bumps from all the rivets and there were also thumb-thick power cables running everywhere for the halogen lamps lined up at even intervals.
Nevertheless...
Even so...
Heivia saw a silhouette. He saw a human silhouette at his eye level. They were curled up on the unsteady beam and he recognized the way they moved their thumb to prepare something. It actually felt nostalgic. It was just like that person who had always been by his side, setting up Hand Axe plastic explosives in some unbelievable place for some trick to fight against the world's most powerful colossal weapons.
He had considered it.
Yes, he would be lying if he said he had not considered it.
Wraith Martini Vermouthspray had shot Quenser in front of Heivia's eyes. But he had not actually seen what happened to the corpse after it fell into the ocean. So what if? Could it be? Perhaps Quenser Barbotage was actually still alive and following some super secret plan that not even Heivia was aware of.
So.
So.
So.
He clenched his teeth, but it was not enough. The shock was so great that it forced his voice from the depths of his throat.
And his voice formed a single name.
"Skuld... Silent-Third!?"
The person he saw there was a short and undeveloped girl with long blonde twintails who perfectly wore the skintight special suit of a Pilot Elite.
She was also the Faith Organization's greatest and most horrific serial killer.
It was not Quenser at all.
Part 21
This seems sudden?
Of course it does. That was a name one must never search. The editors of an online encyclopedia that could be edited by anyone grew stubborn when the information was repeatedly deleted, so they had pushed for the public release of the Madagascar Report which had been sealed by the military. But as a result, they had been killed in a highly suspicious railroad accident. That was the kind of taboo this was.
There was no sign of it coming?
Again, it is only natural not to remember. The great war crime that Quenser and Heivia ran across in the Madagascar Report is not something to look back on. It is a memory that prevents one from living a bright, happy, and enjoyable life.
Skuld Silent-Third.
She was one of the three Pilot Elites of the Faith Organization's Second Generation Trinity Style, officially designated Norn, but she was also a serial killer who used that position to sink her venomous fangs into victims in battlefields around the world.
That incident had supposedly been ended by Quenser's bombs.
However, that same mass murderer had cast aside her blades, guns, and even her Object. She now held a bomb.
What did that mean?
Heivia Winchell's grimaced because he knew the answer.
Part 22
"Nice to see you again, Heivia. And the girl... what was her name again?"
She smiled brightly.
If that was all, it would have been an innocent girl's smile that inspired a protective desire in all who saw it. Her bright green special suit was held tight against the minimal curves of her slender body and a large ribbon provided a florid touch that felt out of place. Her allure combined the cuteness of a younger girl with the seductiveness of an older girl. But that was exactly how she had fooled so many people, relaxed their tension, created an opening, and ultimately consumed them.
"But it's too bad. Quenser was the one I most wanted to see. Look, it's Hand Axe! I went to a lot of trouble getting the real deal, so I have to make its debut worth it."
"What... are you doing?"
He knew. He knew who this was in front of him.
But Heivia raised his voice with a look of utter disbelief.
"Why the hell did the Faith Organization let you out of your cage!? Is everyone in this world a crazy girl!?"
"Love and hate are complexly intertwined, Heivia. Just like how I came to love explosions. Ah ha ha! It's just like the stereotype that, if you look into a serial killer's background, you'll find they were terribly abused when they were young. Y'know, where you can say everyone involved was a victim. Ha ha ha ha ha!!"
Myonri was clearly shaken and Heivia immediately switched from his handgun to his knife. It too was a "self-defense" item he had taken from the diligent New Yorkers. It was a survival knife with a blade measuring more than 40cm, but he was not trying to show off.
His enemy's primary weapon was bombs.
If he moved in close, she would have more difficulty using them without being in the blast radius herself.
"Nee hee hee!!"
One wrong step and they would plummet down. Heivia started running across the ceiling beam and the slender girl named Skuld only laughed maniacally. As the bare blade targeted her unguarded slender throat with a horizontal slash, she actually held out a clay-like block of Hand Axe plastic explosive.
Instead of blocking it with a solid barrier, she was causing the blade to slip as if with oil. Heivia shuddered when he felt the attack miss and then Skuld used her soft-looking lips to stick a pen-shaped electric fuse into the sliced explosive.
Since it resembled a party game where two people held either end of a skinny chocolate snack in their lips, the action carried a seduction not usually found in such a young girl, but the situation was dire.
Her blonde twintails fluttered around her in what seemed like a self-celebratory dance, but Skuld Silent-Third was preparing the explosive despite being less than a meter from her opponent!?
(Is she relying on her Elite special suit!?)
"Oh, while it can handle blades and bullets, this thing can't protect me from a major explosion."
She seemed to have read his mind. And at the same moment, Skuld readily detonated the bomb inside her own young hand.
"!!!???"
Something odd happened.
It was different from a normal explosion that spread destruction in a sphere from the central point. It was more like an infinitely-extending blade of light. When Skuld swung her arm, the scorching blade passed by Heivia's face and burned right through all of the jungle gym-like beams in its path.
(This is worse than at Madagascar!? What kind of movement was that!?)
The blast had been concentrated in a single direction.
The bomb had detonated in her hand, but there was not a drop of blood on the body showing its minimal curves through the green special suit. She licked from her palm to her fingertips in a very seductive way for such a young girl.
"This is nothing unusual."
"Damn you... !"
"Any old fireworks craftsman can do the same thing. Explosions are all about fluid dynamics, so it's the same as the flow of water or air. If you restrain the blast with a sheet of metal and intentionally leave a single hole open, the explosively-expanding combustion gas will be naturally guided through there. Of course, the guns you're so familiar with use the same basic principle."
There had to be more to it.
In theory, you could create a bomb with a single metal pipe. But if an amateur actually tried it, they were guaranteed to blow themselves up in the process. Massive amounts of knowledge and technique were needed to realize that theory. And the mass murderer named Skuld had done so with her own two hands instead of factory equipment.
It was just like that boy who would rely on adlibbed methods and pull them off with no practice whatsoever.
She had inherited it.
It was like the girl carried that powerful enemy inside her undeveloped chest.
Myonri frantically raised her shotgun once more, but Skuld simply held out her hand. Another explosion drowned out the gunshot. It was like a magic trick. The single shotgun shell had to contain tons of small metal balls, but the beautiful serial killer did not have a scratch on her. Had she diverted their path with a solid shockwave barrier?
No...
"... When using explosions, the most important thing is to know what your opponent is thinking."
With a sticky smile reminiscent of sweet nectar, Skuld embraced her own slender body. Her fingers traced across her own minimal curves. She pulled in her long blonde twintails as well, her spine trembled, and she shook from self-produced sensuality.
"I thought the feeling in my wrist when I stabbed or strangled someone was all there was. But the reality was different. Bombs have their own sensation!! You set up a trap no one is expecting, you actually detonate it, and you rule their heart with fear. Ohh, it's so wonderful!! Take... whatever her name is there. You were afraid before you even fired. You feared that shotgun couldn't possibly kill a true monster. So even though you had the overwhelming advantage of aiming a gun at me from a distance, the sound of no more than a tiny explosion caused you to shrink down and shift your own aim. Is there... is there any other killing method that lets you feel their soul more than this!?"
"Shut the hell up..."
Their military training no longer mattered.
It was the same as the incident from the sealed Madagascar Report. Whenever this girl made an appearance, the rules of war collapsed.
"I've had enough of your bitching. You're no more than a wandering ghost who lost her place to die, so I'm not going to let you sully that bastard's name!!"
"Nee hee. Is that the Legitimacy Kingdom's obsession with honor?"
He swung his knife and used the handgun he had decided against earlier, but Skuld jumped to another steel beam a step behind her and he could not do any real damage. She stayed the same distance from him while her twintails and ribbon fluttered around her in a nightmarish and fantastical dance.
The goddess of death and war performed an elegant dance. And seeing that, Heivia raised his voice.
"Myonri, prepare to fire!"
"B-but I can't hit her!"
"Don't let the title of serial killer get to you. Whether she's 'awakened' or broken through her limits, she's still human. Aim for the power cables for the halogen lights!! The footing is already limited, so fill these metal beams with a powerful electric current and not even she will be able to escape!!"
"Oh, that's what you're going with? Emotional sacrifices are so boring. It's a death as bland as a chain burger." Skuld placed a hand on her delicate-looking hip and sounded exasperated."Well, I don't really care what happens after I've had my fun. And I believe I've more than half completed my initial objective."
"?"
"Look down below."
The twintail girl sneered as she placed her lightly-clenched fist below her navel and pointed her index finger straight down.
"I still haven't caused any direct damage, but I have detonated a few bombs inside the gym. If everyone heads for the exits at once, what do you think'll happen to those 50, 000 people?"
"You perverted necrophile girl!!"
"Ah hah hah!!"
Heivia and Myonri knew not to, but they could not stop their eyes from briefly glancing down. And in that instant, Skuld Silent-Third climbed through one of the square maintenance hatches.
Their target had gotten away, but Myonri actually wiped the sweat from her slender chin and breathed a sigh of relief.
"That achieves the bare minimum of our objectives... right? The Information Alliance group is up there. Wraith, Melly, and the giant Oh Ho Ho."
"... I'm not so sure."
Heivia used his handgun to shoot out several of the large halogen lights hanging down from the steel beams. They scattered some glass and a lot of sparks.
"Wh-what are you doing!?"
"I've created a peaceful explanation for those explosions. Hey, Myonri, you're good with computers, right? Rewrite that online encyclopedia that anyone can edit!! Say that in the Central American ocean the pressure change from a storm can cause incandescent and halogen bulbs to burst from internal pressure. The actual reasoning behind it doesn't have to hold up to scrutiny. Just give them something they can look up and accept for the time being!!"
"I thought we couldn't access the actual internet here!"
"I don't know if it's a virtual space or a fake server, but just get it out there so those people will see it!"
People were susceptible to multiple sources. You might hear rumors around you and then find confirmation on the screen in your hand... but in some cases, they both had the same source of information.
As Skuld had said, no direct harm had been done yet. There was nothing Heivia and Myonri could do here except prevent the people from trampling each other in a panic.
"Myonri, let's head up top."
"Eh? I'd rather not. A powered suit and those serverless unmanned weapons will be fighting on that flat roof. Even if the battle will end without our help, a single stray bullet can still kill us!"
"This won't end that easily, " spat out Heivia."I don't care how many of those damn Martinis die, but if Skuld escapes, she'll cause far more damage. And I'm not just talking about Manhattan. You saw the nightmare of that sealed Madagascar Report with your own eyes, didn't you? Didn't you see and agree to seal it all away because it felt like having your nose shoved into some old man's hairy asshole?"
"..."
"If you want proof, just face your own trauma. That's all you need to explain what a threat Skuld is."
Myonri gulped.
That was all. She had no rebuttal for Heivia's seemingly incoherent argument.
They both approached the maintenance hatch Skuld had left through.
They climbed up onto the flat and supposedly safe roof.
They saw the scene they had expected but not wanted.
"Oh, perfect timing. I'm about ready for a second helping☆"
There was a single smile there.
And it was surrounded by hell.
Despite her confidence, Melly Martini Extradry was trapped in the scraps of the many Bullmites that had protected her.
The powered suit that had supposedly carried the Information Alliance idol Elite had what looked like giant claw marks running across it and an orange horizontal line had sliced through it at about chest height. The size was larger, but it was shaped just like the real idol. The cockpit's empty space was exposed and it lay collapsed and sparking in a more gruesome fate than for a normal tank or armored truck.
Wraith Martini Vermouthspray held her small hand to the right side of the young man who lay protectively over her. She was desperately trying to stop his bleeding. It looked more like it was caused by a gunshot than an explosive blast, so it may have been a flying screw or nail rather than the actual explosion.
The girl held her slender body in her arms and her back trembled as she basked in the afterglow. Yes, the afterglow. It was already over.
She really was worse than at Madagascar. The serial killer had evolved through the acquisition of bombs.
"Well, this was a shock for me too, " she said."I really thought there was someone inside that powered suit, but it was being remotely controlled."
Come to think of it, the 4m ringlet curls controlled by that Elite had fallen on her butt during the makeshift chaff attack meant to eliminate the coordination of the Bullmites in the university building. And when she had avoided carelessly answering the call from her father, had it been to prevent Oh Ho Ho's real location from being found out? She could not have anyone tripping her up until she had actually saved her father.
"That sure was elaborate, " spat out Skuld.
That was all. Her brief arousal was already cooling.
"But I guess that was the peak of my surprise. Are those all the tricks up your sleeve? If so, it just wasn't enough. I want a dinner that will really fill my belly. So bring out the next serving already. Or do I need to visit the second and third restaurant?"
"Your attempt to cause a panic in the gym failed, Skuld..."
"Does the Faith Organization need a reason to attack the Information Alliance? Or does a serial killer need a reason to kill people? It's just who we are. What more can you say?"
"It's not like you're going to follow the Faith Organization's rules either! You were convicted under Faith Organization law, abandoned, and thrown in prison!! You expect us to believe a serial killer is diligently doing her job!?"
"Ah ha ha!! Diligently? Well, does it look like I'm doing a good job?"
If she was trying to kill Royce so that his daughter, Oh Ho Ho, would spread further chaos through Manhattan, then Skuld could not have carelessly attacked Oh Ho Ho. She had only learned the powered suit was empty after slicing it in two, so it looked planned but was fundamentally flawed. Was there no way of controlling her?
"Al – so. None of that matters and I don't care. I have no hard feelings for the Legitimacy Kingdom that defeated me in Madagascar or the Faith Organization that used me as long as they could and then judged me like they were the heroes. I have no complaints. I'm satisfied as long as I can kill. I don't even need a war. Back at Madagascar, I made myself valuable with my skill as a Pilot Elite, so the higher ups would cover things up. Those circumstances are all that's changed. I'll make myself valuable in some other way and have someone important create an environment where I'm free to kill. There were no deep reasons behind it. That cruel IV had its uses! The passage of time may have blurred, but everything but the killing and the memories of killing melted away from my mind. What is that if not freedom?"
No matter what, that mass murderer could not forget the taste of killing.
She did not need to use a vast conspiracy or a superpower's interests as an excuse. She was a purer and crueler slaughterer who faced the killing head-on.
"Still, there is one thing I want."
Skuld Silent-Third wrapped her young hands around either side of her small face and lightly twisted her slender hips as she tried to restrain the pleasure signals rising within her. Her entire body radiated something far uglier than unrequited love.
"I wanted to see Quenser. I wanted to see my teacher who taught me this new art of bombs!! See, now I can kill even more people. You were wonderful, teacher, but I can kill far more. So now it's my turn to teach you. I can give you a lovey-dovey hands-on lesson in how to enjoy bombs!! Heh heh. Ah hah hah hah hah!!"
"... You're completely insane. Do you have threads sewn between the wrinkles in your brain or something?"
"Quenser Barbotage was normal."
In an unexpected turn, there was no emotion in her voice at all.
It was the stereotypical form of someone who could not control the switch between mania and depression.
"He was normal, but he could still kill without a second thought. Had you not noticed after spending so much time with him? He was far worse than a serial killer like me. I mean, he couldn't have survived that long otherwise. How many Objects and the armies around them do you think my teacher has blown away in the past? Killing and remaining normal is a frightening thing. How could he do it?"
She did not need to say any more.
Myonri was enthralled and stood stock still, but Heivia moved almost automatically. He had a knife in his right hand and a handgun in his left. He charged toward the twintail girl in order to suppress her at a range of less than 2 meters.
"Oh, right, right. What are you going to do about that?"
Meanwhile, twintailed Skuld had no gun or blade.
Her voice was as casual as someone making an invitation to chat over tea.
"Does the term Ragnarok Script mean nothing to you? What about active self-denial? A mysterious external factor was injected into the Martini Series, but where do you think it really came from?"
"Wha-... !?"
Heivia still had not shaken his doubts.
Even if this was Skuld Silent-Third, could she really have had such an overwhelming advantage on a roof full of unmanned weapons and a powered suit? What if the Martini Series had lost control there? What if a switch had been thrown and either Wraith or Melly had attacked Oh Ho Ho? After what had happened to the powered suit, would he be safe without that kind of armor? Could he really trust that those Martinis were defeated? What if he turned his back on the group that included the monster who had shot Quenser?
"That's just in the way, don't you think? It just ruins your fun."
"!?"
The next thing he knew, Skuld was moving toward him.
The slender girl's right hand had latched onto Heivia's handgun. But not in order to take it from him. Quite the opposite. She pressed the muzzle against her soft-looking belly and repeatedly pulled the trigger.
Dry gunshots rang out and the impacts to her soft lower body caused the girl to double over.
"Kee hee."
But the gun ran out of ammo in no time.
The handgun in his hand was no more than a lump of metal.
"Hee hee hee hah hah!! Yes, yes. That's right. Pain is only another form of pleasure and defeat is the motivation needed to grow!! Right, Quenser? This is the place. This is the best. The most enjoyable aspect of life is the moment when you stand back up from overwhelming defeat to turn it all around!!"
Even if her suit provided some defense against bullets, that had still been suicidal. The bullets might not break through, but the shock still reached her, so it could have torn her muscles or damaged her organs.
And yet.
That murder fairy named Skuld showed only a smile of ecstasy.
"The Ragnarok Script?"
She questioned the thing she herself had just mentioned.
"Do you really think that exists? Ah ha ha!! Investigate all you like, you'll never find it. After all, it never existed."
"What are you... going on about? That's what caused this entire mess... !"
"You take something that doesn't exist and make it look like it does exist to produce a certain effect. Isn't that how the Information Alliance does things? Of course, it was based on a psychological safety device set in place by the powerful people who control the formless Capulet AI Network. If the Martini Series ever gained more popular support than those powerful people, they could leak that supposed vulnerability to end that boom.... Our agents dug it up while infiltrating the Information Alliance and it was reinterpreted into a form we could use more easily. That is the Ragnarok Script."
"..."
Ragnarok.
That was the final battle in Norse Mythology. Afraid of his prophesied death, Odin planned out a way to stop it but ultimately earned enough resentment to get himself devoured by a beast just as the prophecy foretold. It was a merciless myth with no chance for recovery.
Yet if he had never taken the prophecy seriously, nothing would have happened in the first place.
"When their self-confidence is shaken and they lose sight of themselves, those Martinis succumb to the AI far more easily. So there was no need for active self-denial. The Faith Organization has far more experience when it comes to matters of the heart."
Skuld sounded like she was letting them in on a juicy secret.
"In Faith Organization terms, it may be a lot like banning Mary adoration or Thor worship. And as long as the true result of the lie is effective, the rest doesn't matter. The Martinis really are bound by the nonexistent threat, aren't they?"
Similarly, Heivia had lost his valuable firepower due to this girl's words.
There was nothing he could do with no bullets in his gun. Since her skintight special suit was blade-resistant, his options were limited with his knife.
"We whisper about the Ragnarok Script and the Martinis are bound. Even if they know it doesn't exist, they can't cleanse the damage to their soul. It's like a curse. Maybe this is the result of controlling the Information Alliance's fear with Faith Organization methods."
"Tch... !?"
"Oh? What are you going to do? I don't think you have time to swap magazines."
He did not have time to be surprised by each and every one of her actions. As soon as Skuld let go of the empty handgun, she dropped a small piece of plastic explosive to her feet, detonated it, and used the blast to rotate her own body. Her weight shifted in a way that wouldn't have been possible for a normal human and she sent a roundhouse kick as heavy as a demolition hammer toward the side of Heivia's head.
As long as it was enjoyable and fun, she did not care what happened to her own body.
Heivia responded to the lunatic's joy by lowering his arm. He did not let his arm be broken to protect his head. He dropped the empty handgun and slid it into the gap between the roof and the raised heel of Skuld's pivot leg.
"Oh?"
She lost her balance and the axis of her roundhouse kick wobbled.
Skuld missed and, before she could straighten back up, Heivia tackled her childish hips. He placed the knee of her roundhouse kick on his shoulder and flipped her over. No, his hand would still have held the large survival knife.
They collapsed in a heap with Skuld on her back and Heivia on top of her. He held the survival knife in both hands with the tip in the center of her flat chest. Skuld used both hands to push back up, but he had the mounted position. No amount of squirming would let the slender serial killer escape from below the boy. As he pushed down on the knife with all his weight, it slowly moved down millimeter by millimeter. The sharp tip was definitely approaching Skuld's vitals.
"Enough..."
Heivia shouted with the bloodshot eyes of something other than a soldier who killed for his job.
"I'll kill you!! I won't let anyone else end this. We screwed up in Madagascar! We should've done this from the beginning!!"
"Oh? Are you forcing yourself? Quenser is one thing, but I thought you acted as the brakes."
Skuld was weaker. She could not overturn things here, so she could only watch as the blade slowly but surely reached her heart. Even if her Pilot Elite special suit was blade resistant, the weight would still reach her. The blade might not be able to cut the fibers, but the weight would gather on one point, like she was being stepped on with high heels, and her young ribs and sternum would be broken.
But as she lay on her back, Skuld continued to smile.
And she was not forcing it. Nor was she escaping to a paradise only she could see.
All of a sudden, Heivia realized Hand Axe plastic explosives were scattered at the vertices of an equilateral triangle with Skuld and her seductive bodylines in the center. Her inappropriate outfit added to the illusion that this was a magic circle drawn out on the floor and she was holding a blasphemous sacrificial ceremony using her own body.
The girl licked her lips in a way far too sinister for her lovely facial features.
"When using an icepick, the trick to silently breaking the window to reach the lock inside is to use a triangle. You make a crack and remove the bare minimum of glass at the vertices. And can't you look at this roof the same way?"
"Damn you... !!"
He could definitely kill Skuld like this.
But to be certain, he had to take his time slowly pushing the blade down. He could not end it right this instant.
That was why Skuld Silent-Third's slender white throat moved alluringly as she laughed.
"I've made it so I'll fall. I'll break off the roof around me. And there are 50, 000 people below. I'm covered in my full stock of Hand Axe, so if I go out in an impressive explosion, just what color of flower will blossom down there?"
"... !!!???"
"Don't give me that look. It might not cause that much damage at all. With that many people together, their flesh will function as a barrier. Ah ha ha! So how about you pray for a miracle, Brake Boy?"
He could not let go with his hands. It was his weight bearing down on them that was restraining Skuld. If he let go and released her, she would cause even more harm.
Myonri was overwhelmed and had fallen into a seated position, so he could not rely on her. Everyone else had been defeated, so he could not expect support from them either.
There was nothing he could do.
He knew the tragedy that was about to occur, yet he could find no plan to stop it!?
"Here's what Quenser would do." It was entirely out of place, but Skuld sounded like a dreaming maiden."The options are to safely draw back or charge forward despite the danger. He would definitely charge forward. He would prioritize defeating his enemy over protecting himself and allowing the situation to grow even worse. I understand him. I understand the human being named Quenser Barbotage..."
Just then, something changed.
It was a gunshot.
Right into the center of her flat chest.
A bullet was fired from the self-defense handgun held by a small bloody hand.
"Wrai... th... ?"
The black-uniform girl did not respond to Heivia.
She had walked over at some point and she had not hesitated to pull the trigger while looking down on the twintailed murderer.
"Don't joke." Her voice was trembling like she was about to cough up blood."Quenser Barbotage would never do that!! He... that complete moron was such a hopeless 'human' that he would make a split-second decision to protect an enemy soldier being targeted by the world's largest Object!! He was a fundamentally different creature to you or me!!"
The special suit provided some protection against bullets.
But only some.
"I... see."
Skuld's eyes wandered aimlessly as if seeing something that was not here and words escaped her mouth.
"Teacher. I was wondering why I didn't see you here... So that's what happened."
As if to say she would not allow her to say anymore, Wraith pulled the trigger several more times. She seemed to be bringing the serial killer back to her senses through sensible pain. Skuld had trouble breathing, so she could no longer hold back the knife. Just as her limiter broke and her strength dropped, Heivia used his full weight to drive the 40cm survival knife's tip into the center of that childish chest.
Thanks to its blade resistance, the special suit itself did not tear.
But the same weight as being stepped on with high heels would destroy the girl's slender body.
This would end it.
This would settle the entire issue surrounding the Martini Series and the Ragnarok Script. There was no need to worry about the Object losing control. The Manhattan would no longer be a threat.
"I... will not die."
But the girl's smile was like a curse at this point.
The mass murderer announced her immortality like the monster in a cheap horror movie.
"I've killed enough to know. This pain isn't coming from my organs. More, more, more. Drive it in more. Crush my organs with my broken ribs and sternum..."
"Shut up and die. We don't need anything extra. If you'll just die here it's all over. I'm not Quenser, so I'm not going to feel sorry for you."
"Ha ha. Brake Boy, you can't do it. Only my teacher can kill me. That must have been destined from the moment we were born."
What meaning did that serial killer see in her own death?
Was it just one more for the pile? Or was she the one exception, so it was a treasure meant only for someone she cared for?
"Or so I thought. How disappointing. But in a way, I guess you could say I achieved my objective. For my purposes, it didn't have to be Royce."
"What... ?"
Heivia felt like his entire body was covered in tiny insects.
She knew something.
They had already passed the minor issues of the Martini Series and the Ragnarok Script.
The world would roll toward the precipice any number of times.
She probably saw it as a way to bring herself closer to Quenser who had defeated her and had a killing method greater than her own. Just like a stalker's obsession could gather more information than a professional detective or intelligence agent, she had thoroughly investigated everything about him. Heivia was certain of it.
If only the powered suit had not been remote controlled. If only Oh Ho Ho had been killed by Skuld sooner, this would not have happened.
This extreme evil inspired that sort of misguided regret.
"I went a little overboard and sliced it in half, but can you hear me, Miss Powered Suit? Or whoever's controlling it, I mean."
"What are you doing? What more could you do!?"
"You don't know?"
She actually looked surprised.
And then Skuld Silent-Third made the worst possible move.
"That girl over there is the one who killed my teacher, Quenser Barbotage, right? I feel bad leaving someone in the dark, so we need to make sure everyone knows."
Part 23
"Ah."
That girl was in some other location.
She should not have been at any risk there. Lendy Farolito adored that Pilot Elite, so she would never allow the girl anywhere near the scene of a battle so full of unknowns. That commander had used herself as a diversion to convince everyone the Idol Elite was actually there and she had used that "information" to protect the precious girl.
"Ahh."
But she should have considered it.
Not all danger came in the form of physical bullets and bombs. They were from the Information Alliance, so she should have known the greatest danger of all came in the form of information arriving over the internet.
Her father was safe. Royce was alive.
But her young heart was hit in the most sudden way imaginable.
Quenser Barbotage was no more.
Someone she had trusted had shot him.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!???"
Part 24
"Welcome to the end of the world."
The mass murderer spat out the words like blood.
But with a dreamy expression on her face.
"I too am an Elite, so I know the special treatment we get. You came here to protect her father for her own personal needs, didn't you? But what if she loses someone she cares for just as much?"
Skuld had a twisted obsession with Quenser. She saw him as her teacher in the art of killing.
That was why she had investigated everything about him.
"If the Faith Organization's predictions are correct, she is more than just an Elite. She is a VIP who can work with the entire formless Capulet AI Network of which Manhattan is just one small piece. To the point that she could singlehandedly fight against the several thousand Martinis. How badly will she lose control when someone who she has a strong connection with dies? I can't wait to find out. Right, teacher?"
It was true the Martini Series problem had been eliminated.
An even greater threat had emerged, so of course it had.
Between the Lines 2
Situation 325 has been judged a failure.
Skuld Silent-Third's defeat has been confirmed.
It was separate from Royce, but that serial killer met the minimum requirements at the very, very end. I will honestly praise how clever she is. This will safely bring us to the ignition.
This would all be for naught if we could not bring down Manhattan, the Martini Series, and the entire Information Alliance to trigger a world war that draws in all four world powers.
The world desires chaos.
Most religions cannot advance during peacetime. God's righteousness can only be easily explained using god's enemies, an overwhelming disaster, or something else that defies human understanding.
Formless depravity should be feared most of all.
And this clean age is exactly that.
To fight against the silently approaching trend of degeneracy, we must create an obvious enemy. That process is sure to produce a great many victims, but the world must be united if we are to fight against the true, invisible threat.
This age is wrong.
The world was mistaken to support itself with Objects and humanity will never find a bright future along that path. That is simple enough to say, but very few people can explain what exactly is wrong or how to fix it on a quantitative level.
So we must do so. We will supply what is lacking and reach out our hand. Not for social status or honor, but to regain a world where people can live as people. We will solemnly carry out all necessary actions. We will not fear the critics or historians. After all, we await an unavoidable judgment by a far greater being.
Prepare Module Quenser.
I too will head out.
–From Venerable Elder Tyrfing Boilermaker to all my beloved compatriots
| ← Ch. 133 | Ch. 135 → |