novelVolume 7, Stage 02 - An Enemy Named Olivia Highland (1)
| ← Ch.076 | Ch.078 → |
Volume 7, Stage 02: An Enemy Named Olivia Highland (1)
"Onii-chan, what you're saying makes no sense..."
"Probably not. But it's the truth."
(Stage 02 Open 07/19 18:30)
An Enemy Named Olivia Highland
"Why...?"
Shiroyama Kyousuke already knew the answer to his question.
But he could not stop the meaningless words.
"Why are you here? How were you able to come here!?"
"Ha ha. What, you aren't going to call me Via like you used to?"
It was a truly innocent smile.
Just like back then, it was as bright as the sun and contained no hint of wickedness.
Olivia did not hesitate to answer while showing off her skin with her risqué swimsuit.
"Obviously, I'm here because I regained my memories of you by binding a contract with a new summoner."
"...!!!???"
Who?
That was all the information Kyousuke needed to know that she had strayed dangerously far.
Her mother, the other monarch of Kingdom F, had been a veteran vessel. So even after her contract with Kyousuke ended, she would remember this world every time she saw her mother's face. To prevent that, that monarch had left her daughter with her wet nurse until she had grown enough to accept the truth of the world.
But it had all been for naught.
The world's malice had easily destroyed everything they had built up.
"You really are cruel, Onii-chan. We spent so much time supporting each other, but as soon as my problem is resolved, you erase my memories and just throw me out like yesterday's trash? My life didn't just end there, you know? What if a bad guy got to me while you weren't looking???"
She was completely oblivious to the fact that precisely that had happened to her.
"But the strongest of the strongest at the peak of the Unexplored-class is different! She called me to her as her servant, brought back my memories, and gave me this opportunity to meet you again!!
The White Queen is incredible!! She's so cool!!"
And it was all the same as back then.
She left her body and mind defenseless by not doubting the White Queen in the slightest. She truly believed the legends that the White Queen was an incarnation of radiance, justice, and benevolence.
She was different from Azalea Magentarain and the others who saw how twisted the Queen was but followed her anyway. She was a Queen worshiper, but there was no sign of the usual stickiness in her.
"I'm having trouble following this..."
"Indeed."
Biondetta and Meinokawa Aoi recovered before Kyousuke himself.
And because they did not know the background here...
"This is getting tedious. Shouldn't we hurry up and get rid of her?"
"Wait, Biond..."
"Ha ha. Do you really think I'll let you???"
Her voice was sickeningly sweet.
With an innocent smile on her lips, a straw hat on her head, and a rose decoration on her flat chest, Olivia's announcement indicated that the end had already begun.
At first, it looked like a meteor shower had colored the twilight sky.
But by the time he realized it was a series of regulated lines travelling from the ocean horizon, over the farm road, and toward the mountain side of the village, Kyousuke felt a definite pain in his heart. He had identified those countless lights filling the celestial canopy.
"It's a cheap multiple launch rocket system. They say it'll level everything from the ocean."
Olivia smiled.
She smiled and smiled and smiled while providing that nightmarish answer in her school swimsuit, decorative collar, ridiculously short miniskirt, and floral print pareo.
Her expression looked right at home in the midsummer.
"Counting the parent bombs, child bombs, and grandchild bombs, a set of 20 will ultimately split into 18, 000. They're designed for a 30km space, so with two sets, you can destroy two or three tank companies, but you need to be careful because a lot of them end up not going off. Got that, O - ni - i - chan☆"
How many people were there in the village?
There had been a lot of children playing in the river not far from here. The old people preparing for the festival had stopped working and silently prayed when Aoi had walked by. Plus, that festival would be held at the shrine before long, so everyone would be excitedly looking forward to the event.
"Olivia...!!"
But he did not have time to protest.
The deadly canopy dropped down like a spiked trap.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!!!!!!
Instead of dropping explosives on top of a designated target, the destruction dug up the land across a set range.
"!!"
When the bombardment struck, Kyousuke and Biondetta had tackled the silver-haired shrine maiden into a waterless paddy.
But Aoi chose to continue rolling until she was on top of them. Despite being entirely artificial, she had the warmth and softness of a living being. If the explosive blast hit her, she would be as easily torn apart and blown away as any of them. And yet she did not hesitate to make her choice. Perhaps that was her nature as a shrine god created to protect.
"Well, now. I never thought the day would come that a lady would need to be so tough!!"
If they lost Meinokawa Aoi here, they would lose their path to defeating the White Queen. But Aoi seemed entirely focused on saving the lives in front of her.
Meanwhile...
The destructive storm swept across the land like a tractor's rotating blades slicing up the worms in the dirt, but Olivia did not even get down on the ground while wearing her school swimsuit, decorative collar, pareo, miniskirt, and straw hat.
The most she did was grab the brim of the hat with both hands.
A gust of wind too weak to call a gale blew her pareo and miniskirt up, exposing her bright thighs and the armpits inside her short sleeves.
That bright coloration was like a sacred ground.
It did not allow even a single red scratch.
"Good, good, good. Once everything's been leveled, the landing unit can come in. It's time for the Hover Edges to do their job. Nya ha ha."
She spoke calmly while still standing in the center of the crossroads.
Yet when exposed to an explosive blast, standing rather than getting down increased the odds of death by more than 50%.
A great quantity of explosives continued to rain down from above and something approached from the distant ocean horizon. Whatever-they-were raced toward the coast while spread out at even intervals, so they were probably giant Repliglass craft loaded with summoners and vessels.
Released Creations ignored the structures of existing plants and animals, so there was nothing in particular to reference, but in Kyousuke's view, they looked like sports kite monsters skimming just off the surface. Assuming of course, that kites had creepy compound eyes that accurately scanned the terrain and large propellers to provide thrust. Describing such a device was simple, but creating one would be difficult. Aircushions were viewed as convenient amphibious vehicles, but when piloting one through rubble, there was always a risk of the inflated float being damaged. These probably combined the best features of an aircushion and a glider, allowing them to move smoothly and rapidly while occasionally adjusting their altitude.
"Don't worry. I doubt any of them will hit you, Onii-chan."
As 18, 000 explosives rained down, the words of a 10-year-old girl were what caused the waitress demon's face to tense up.
"You're kidding...right? Those are non-guided, area-suppression rockets! They won't avoid you if you're clutching a cheap GPS in your hands and they're supposed to evenly blow up everything within range!!"
"This is the world we live in. Onii-chan, you've caught on by now, haven't you?"
Kyousuke clenched his teeth in the waterless paddy as her heated and hopeful gaze fell on him.
He spoke the idea that welled up in his chest.
"...So that's what's going on."
"This is the world you wanted, isn't it?"
Who had given him this present?
The worshipers in Bridesmaid, or the White Queen herself who stood above them?
"But why did you bring the villagers into this summoner battle? If you knew this attack couldn't kill us, there was no point in making it!!"
"Ehh? But this is something you taught me, Onii-chan."
She sounded somewhat dependent and somewhat sulky. Either way, it was the calculated way that a child gathered people's attention. But an unpleasant sensation ran down Kyousuke's spine when he realized what she meant.
Olivia remained pure and innocent as she continued.
And she showed no concern for the bright thighs visible below the short skirt and floral pattern pareo as they fluttered in the explosive blasts.
"When fighting using the Summoning Ceremony, you need to make sure you don't get normal people involved. If necessary, you try to drive them away and cut them off from the dangerous battlefield. These are allll rules you followed, Onii-chan."
So she had done it.
She had "erased" the normal people from the battlefield.
"You're insane, Olivia...!!"
"Not necessarily."
Surprisingly, it was Meinokawa Aoi who interrupted while using her own body to protect Kyousuke and Biondetta from the rocket blasts. Her pulse did not feel at all artificial as she pressed it up against the other two.
"This Houbi land is the combat village ruled by the Meinokawa summoner bloodline. This area is known for its underground ice rooms, but they are all connected to form a giant network of tunnels. They will not be buried alive there unless the enemy uses one of those...bun-ker bus-ters? Or whatever they are called."
"But only a fraction of them can use those, right!? Aren't most of them normal people with no connection to the world of the Summoning Ceremony!?"
"They can be guided. Normal people lose their memories of summoners and vessels once we are no longer in their field of vision, but it is up to their individual nature how their mind maintains consistency. So if we arrange things in a suggestive fashion, they will subconsciously choose to evacuate whenever anything odd happens."
"Hee hee hee. Isn't that great, Onii-chan? If this wasn't Houbi Village, you'd have to give up your title as the king of not killing."
"..."
This had all been so she could say that one thing.
"But that does not mean we can just laugh it off and forgive her, " said Aoi."She also ruined the festival."
"Oh, c'mon. All I'm thinking about is how to bring the Queen and Onii-chan together in my own way. Why would I need anyone's permission to do that?"
No, that was also why Bridesmaid and the White Queen had joined forces with Olivia Highland, a girl he had once saved.
...It was all to utterly destroy the "safe zone" that Shiroyama Kyousuke had believed in.
They had made a mess of the smiles he had seen here and the preparations for the small festival that the village had been looking forward to.
The problem was just how well they knew each other. It would be difficult to find an attack so grand and wasteful that simultaneously tore into Kyousuke's heart with such pinpoint precision.
"But, Onii-chan, now you can't run away, can you? I got rid of all the buildings you might have hidden behind and there isn't a forest of people you can disappear into either."
"Olivia..."
"Summoning Ceremony battles are somewhat reliant on the terrain, so now we can fight on even footing. Now, Onii-chan, let's enjoy this fight now that there's no one left to interfere."
"Olivia Highlaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand!!!!!"
Kyousuke tore himself away from Aoi's overly kind warmth, shouted at the top of his lungs, and got up, but the world had already changed.
Most of the natural terrain remained, but the comfortable rural scenery, which had been filled with a refreshing breeze even in early summer, was nowhere to be found. All of the black soil had been dug up, scorching flames whirled in blazing vortices, and black smoke stained the twilight sky.
"This is your fault, Onii-chan."
It was just like the civil war battlefield covered in blood and gun smoke he had traversed with that Alice.
Or was it that Olivia wanted to return to that time?
Once the downpour of explosives let up, Olivia gently let go of her straw hat, freeing her slender hands from anything and everything.
She spread them out like fairy wings.
And she spoke as she held the liberating sky in her hands.
"Defeat the White Queen? How could you not recognize how wonderfully pretty, amazing, strong, kind, and cool she is? There's only one possibility: you still don't know her well enough. C'mon, Onii-chan. You need to view the world with more of an open mind."
"..."
That was the exact opposite of his problem.
As the girl lectured him on that pure whiteness, she showed no sign of noticing the error of her ways.
"So I just have to teach you. Once you know how powerful the White Queen is, surely even you will change your mind!!"
Just as she said that, the Repliglass craft that resembled giant sport kites began to arrive at the beach and spew lots of summoners and vessels out onto the battlefield.
"Tch!!"
At that moment, the information that came to Demon Biondetta's mind was quite simple:
Olivia Highland was once Shiroyama Kyousuke's partner. Thus, the odds are incredibly high she is a vessel.
Olivia Highland is acting alone, but the threat she poses will rise considerably if she manages to meet up with her summoner partner.
The first wave of rocket blasts is over and a Bridesmaid landing unit has arrived on the leveled battlefield. There are decent odds that Olivia Highland's summoner is among them.
She chose the obvious course of action based on those facts: shoot the girl immediately before her summoner can arrive.
Biondetta's waitress-style miniskirt fluttered up as she prepared her folded Blood-Sign which doubled as a bolt-action sniper rifle. And she could pull the trigger far faster than someone could throw an Incense Grenade. It was a sniper rifle, but she raised it like a pistol in a Western quick-draw scene and her trigger finger was already moving.
Even if the girl was a vessel, a human was a human.
If she had yet to join with her summoner and invite a Material inside herself, the little subcutaneous fat of her undeveloped bodylines could not deflect a rifle bullet. The lead weapon used its own rapid rotation to stabilize itself and it would swiftly crush and wreak havoc on the Olivia's internals as it mercilessly pierced through her.
However...
"Stop that. She's just a child. How immature of you."
"!? Oh, honestly!!"
A slender hand casually reached in from the side, grabbed Biondetta's gun and pointed it straight up. The culprit was Meinokawa Aoi. The movement of her sleeve pulled on the chest of her shrine maiden outfit, causing it to jiggle, and then the bullet flew through the evening sky like a warning shot. Excellent accuracy was the selling point for bolt-action weapons, but they were hopelessly unsuited for rapid-fire because the cocking lever had to be pulled for each and every shot.
The look in Kyousuke's eyes grew even sharper.
"Biondetta! You!!"
"Eek! Does this mean you're going to insist on a late-night talking-to!? First I fail to finish off my target and now I have to sit through a lecture!? This really is the worst!!"
Just as the contracted demon shouted in desperation, the many white Repliglass craft skimmed by a lot like giant sports kites. Shiroyama Kyousuke was an obvious target, but they moved to suppress the entire village instead, so they may have also wanted to collect the documents and equipment related to the Meinokawa Shrine.
Meinokawa Aoi held ancient knowledge on how to create artificial vessels, but she would need a manufacturing facility to give that information physical form.
"Whoops."
Olivia belatedly held down her straw hat and miniskirt as the artificial wind blew through.
Once the Repliglass group had passed by as a white wind, something unfamiliar had joined the scorched and hellish landscape.
A man of nearly 2m stood next to the 135cm girl.
It was late July and the first day of summer break, but he ignored all of that to wear a black riding suit and a lab coat. But the most conspicuous part was the full-face helmet like a fighter pilot might wear. It included an oxygen inhaler which was connected to the wheeled oxygen tank lying at his feet like a suitcase.
Kyousuke had no idea who he was.
But he could make a pretty good guess based on the spear-like object longer than he was tall.
It was an excessively-long Japanese sword and sheath held closed by rusted wire like a faucet during a water conservation period.
It looked something like a single long rod.
It was a Blood-Sign.
"Now, shall we get started, Onii-chan?"
The girl freed her skinny arms.
Olivia Highland giggled and stepped closer to the man who was nearly twice her height. Summoners were the backstage performers who ensured the vessel could make their greatest performance while calling a god down onto the stage. This was the practical form linked to her origin.
"I'll show you alllll sorts of great things about the White Queen!!"
Kyousuke had announced his intention to kill the White Queen.
He had expected to run into Bridesmaid since they worshiped the Queen over anything else in the world.
But as he pulled his Repliglass Blood-Sign from his back, a certain phrase came to mind.
(I need to fix this little by little. If I do what they want, things will only get worse!!)
To be blunt, his group gained nothing from fighting Olivia.
Their goal was to learn from Meinokawa Aoi and acquire an artificial vessel that suited their purposes.
And yet the situation was rapidly headed toward battle.
Win or lose, they took damage just from taking part. It would tear their schedule to shreds.
They did not have time for a strategy meeting with the enemy right in front of them. Biondetta made complex movements using the artificial bones inside her dominant hand in order to communicate with Kyousuke.
(Let's throw our Incense Grenades simultaneously. They must not want to let us build up our Cost using Chains because they haven't surrounded us with summoners. It's two-against-one, so we have the advantage and we need to use it!!)
Kyousuke had no objection to that plan.
Alice (with) Rabbit pulled a metal can the size of a hairspray can from his hoodie pocket, pulled the pin, and threw it. Liar Cat spread her legs and a sphere a bit smaller than a baseball fell from her waitress-style miniskirt.
Even if one was deflected, the other would detonate.
The standard for a group battle was to trap your target in your own Artificial Sacred Ground.
And that was what should have happened.
However.
It was a pristine sound, as if from a metal wind chime.
By the time the vibrations had propagated through the air, the change had already arrived.
"A cut...!?"
A slight vertical cut ran through the very bottom of the miniskirt and the tool she had supposedly dropped between her legs was cleanly destroyed. Even Biondetta felt her throat grew so dry she could barely force her voice out through it. The Incense Grenade was sliced apart as easily as a piece of fruit. And with enough accuracy to remove the fuse, preventing it from detonating.
Aoi brought a hand to her mouth in surprise, pushing up on her soft breasts in the process.
"Even with Incense Grenades thrown in two different directions, that helmeted man not only sliced through them but defused them as well!?"
That 2m Japanese sword had supposedly been held in place with wire, but the strength of his thumb had been enough to forcibly break that wire and release the seal.
It had been an iai strike.
Without losing any momentum, he had smoothly made a second and third sword strike. Just like a roller coaster endlessly switching between kinetic energy and potential energy, the faceless man's sword edge never came to a stop. After the storm of flowing silver lines was released from the sheath, it could not have been even two seconds before it was returned to the sheath.
And that frightening sword edge would be able to target more than just Incense Grenades.
In general, an Incense Grenade's timed fuse took 3-5 seconds to detonate.
Against this lab coat and riding suit man, those few seconds seemed to stretch out into an eternity. It was hardly surprising that Biondetta and Meinokawa Aoi decided their best course of action was to immediately move back to put some distance between them and wielder of that long weapon.
But the boy chose the exact opposite path.
Shiroyama Kyousuke adjusted his grip on his similarly long Blood-Sign and charged forcefully in toward the man.
The previously pristine sound grew distorted.
It was not the man's blade that Kyousuke's Blood-Sign had caught. He refused to even let the man remove the sword from its sheath, so he had caught the wrist of the hand holding the hilt.
"The weakness of longer weapons is the range you need."
He approached to just a dozen or so centimeters away and they both poured all their strength into their respective weapons.
"And it's even worse with a sword since you can't move your hand up the shaft like you can with a spear or naginata. So it's actually safer to move in close."
That was as far as he got.
The supposedly-restrained helmeted man turned his body even further. That freed his arm from the Blood-Sign and pulled Kyousuke's wrist forward as he tried to pursue it. When using iai techniques to kill instead of as a performance, this was a recovery technique for when your sheath or hilt was captured.
He did not rotate his hips to shift his entire body weight. He only used the strength of his arms. And there was not much actual power contained in the movement.
But Kyousuke's body flipped quite dramatically. He had been forced to do it himself to escape the pain in his wrist joint. This was an aikido style throw that used the bare minimum of strength to control your opponent.
However...
"..."
Shiroyama Kyousuke did not bat an eye even as he was flipped upside down.
Had the man failed to notice his expression because they were too close for his eyes to focus properly?
Kyousuke's flipping body obscured the lab coat and riding suit man's vision and he moved to the side as guided by the man's recovery technique.
And once he was out of the way, the helmeted man saw something else instead: Biondetta's bolt-action sniper rifle.
A dry blast rang out.
The recoil ran violently through the alluring body contained in the waitress uniform.
The fact that the man managed to draw the blade and block the rifle proved his skill really was the best of the best.
But this was not a battle between a blade and a bullet.
It was a battle between summoners who fought by calling in otherworldly beings.
They had only needed to stop the man's movement for just a moment.
Even as he was thrown into a side flip and out of the way, Kyousuke stuck his left hand in his pocket and tossed out the metal can found inside.
He had already been outside the swordsman summoner's focus.
And he had also tensed up due to the knockback from the rifle bullet.
The silver flashes would return a moment later, but that brief pause had killed the speed of proper iai. It was only by some miniscule fraction of a second, but he was too slow all the same.
The blade did dig into the surface of the metal can.
But that was when it detonated.
The mixture of herbs and minerals was arranged differently for every summoner, but that incense now spread out and surrounded a 20m cube to cut it off from the rest of the world.
A stock of three white balls of light known as White Thorns appeared near Kyousuke, Biondetta, and the helmeted man, a Rose created from 6x6x6 red balls of light known as Petals appeared in the center of the Artificial Sacred Ground, and 36 Spots opened all across that space.
"We finally cleared step one..."
The first one to hit a White Thorn with their Blood-Sign was Biondetta who had moved away and was thus free to act.
"...But we'll have the upper hand once I summon a Material!!"
The sword user cut at Kyousuke to force him to block with his Blood-Sign and launched a White Thorn while Kyousuke was knocked back. But in the meantime, Biondetta's White Thorn caused the Rose to burst and the red Petals scattered every which way. She really was the fastest one. Several Petals fell into the Spots and the white snake vessel transformed into a Material.
Sound Range: High. Cost: 6.
Predatory Fire (l v z - w z b).
Seeing as Olivia's side only had the Original Yellow (s), a slime of Cost 1 from the high Sound Range, their plan had paid off. This was an overwhelming advantage. They were the same Sound Range with a Cost difference of 5. There was no way Biondetta could lose.
But Kyousuke felt a chill down his spine.
That line. Biondetta's words. He felt like the pupa of hopeless slaughter was waiting to spread its wings...
"Wait, Biondetta..."
Then it hit him and he called out to her.
"Don't let your guard down!! This isn't over yet!!"
"?"
He did not get through to her.
Biondetta gave him a puzzled look just before it happened.
There was a cost difference of 5.
They were both at the same Sound Range, so that would not have played a role.
"...Eh?"
Biondetta's eyes opened wide, like she was viewing something truly unbelievable.
The translucent yellow slime's body had burst straight through the pulsing central weak point of Biondetta's supposedly stronger Material.
It had broken through the Silhouette.
That was the Material's weak point where the vessel's mind resided.
That blatantly-displayed weak point was never taken advantage of because not even the chosen vessel could fully control the Material. The best they could hope for was to just barely keep the rampaging targeting cursor on the target, so precise targeting was no more than a hopeless dream.
(The Third Summoning Ceremony refers to a contract bound between humans and Materials. )
And yet.
The enemy had done it.
(So the exact classification and definition of "human" becomes an issue. The more accurately a vessel can indicate what a "human" is, the clearer the Material can perceive them and the greater they synchronize. And that binds them more closely together. That is why shrine maidens and holy women cut themselves off from worldly impurities to preserve their purity, and that is why there are traditions of finding special meaning in the structure of the human body itself, such as a sage's skeletal structure or the Adam Kadmon. While you can be taught to be a summoner, being a vessel is mostly reliant on inborn talent. There are natural ones like Meinokawa Higan and Sekurtiti and there are created ones like Isabelle who had her soul artificially worn away and Lu-san whose family is searching for the perfect form of mankind. And the greatest one I've ever seen is...)
The small vessel before his eyes right now.
As a vessel with royal blood, royal flesh, and a royal soul, Olivia Highland could fully control her Material.
"Kah."
And no matter how it had happened, there was only one result once the Material had been defeated.
The defeated summoner and vessel would be hit by a shock equivalent to seeing their god slaughtered before their eyes.
"Kahahhh!!!???"
As soon as everything burst and the white snake was released into the world once more, Biondetta arched her back. As if she had been hit by a stun gun in the back, she could not close her gaping mouth and she collapsed to her knees.
Even so, this would never have happened to Biondetta normally. At Freedom's 900 level and as an actively scheming demon, she would have immediately picked up on the scent of her opponent trying some kind of trick and she would have put up her guard.
It was obvious what had dulled her senses.
(That summoner was trying to prevent us from using the Summoning Ceremony, so she assumed victory was ours as soon as the Incense Grenade detonated. Even though there was nothing at all to suggest that. They placed a nonexistent borderline in her mind and launched a surefire attack in the instant she crossed it and relaxed. Olivia, when did you get so clever!?)
The yellow slime turned to face him.
A Material was normally a mass of fighting instincts, but this one came to a stop even though Kyousuke had yet to summon a Material and thus gain a protective circle. It was like a rider holding their trusty steed's reins and ordering it to wait. That alone proved just how extraordinary Olivia's talent was.
She had overcome a Cost difference of 5 for an instant kill, so even if Kyousuke summoned a Cost 1 member of the Original Series and tried to build his Material up from there, Olivia would kill it before he got anywhere. And even after all this, Olivia may not have been satisfied. She had said she wanted to show off all sorts of great things about the White Queen, so she did not seem to want a quick end to the battle.
But then...
"I see."
The silver-haired shrine maiden sighed in a mixture of exasperation and awe.
She held her own head between her soft hands, but it did not look like her mind was ruled by agony. She also gave her partner a glimpse of her defenseless armpit through the opened shoulder of her clothing.
"So this is the cutting-edge form of the Blood-Sign method. And it would seem you have developed some secret techniques not even I am familiar with. But if you are going to cheat, then you can't complain when I do the same, can you? I have had far more than enough time to sit around and think while being used as a shrine god."
As soon as she said that, something happened.
She used her hands to pull off her own head. It came off far too easily.
The action was as casual as removing a full-face helmet.
And with her head missing, Meinokawa Aoi held the removed head to her surprisingly large chest and spoke.
"Now, a question. Girl, where do you think the human soul resides? In the brain? Or maybe in the heart? But the answer doesn't actually matter. I am a fully artificial vessel, so I am not actually a living creature. In other words, I have no center point. That is an extremely important fact."
Olivia had become the Material, so she could not actually speak.
But even if she had a mouth with which to speak, would she have tried to communicate with Aoi?
"Since I have no center, where will the Material reside if I split my body in two within the Artificial Sacred Ground? In the brain, or the heart? As I said, I do not have the center point you call a soul. Now, will the Material choose correctly? Or will it choose wrong? Or will it be unable to choose just one and be torn in two to reside in both halves? What matters here is that the Summoning Ceremony is the modern version of the extremely dangerous ceremony used to call down the gods. If you keep that in mind, I think it should be obvious what is about to happen."
She was plotting something.
Knowing that must have been enough because the Original Yellow moved swiftly. It moved to eliminate Meinokawa Aoi who was producing dissonance.
But it was just a moment too late.
"If the margin of error grows beyond the tolerable limit, the contradiction cannot be contained and the ceremony will fail. It does not matter what Material you have or how long until the proper end. It will be immediately canceled, the Artificial Sacred Ground will collapse, and we will regain our freedom."
It was like a giant balloon popping. The pull of gravity vanished from Kyousuke's feet. By the time he realized he had been blown away by an invisible explosion, he had been knocked quite a ways backwards. And he was not the only one. The same had happened to all of those arrogant enough to take part in the Summoning Ceremony and insolently wield a higher power.
The summoning had failed.
This never should have happened in the modern age of the Third Summoning Ceremony.
"I may only be an artificial lookalike, but do not forget that I am a shrine god who has long listened to people's prayers and warded off evil, you fools. If I was going to give up on someone's life just because that life is not my own, I would never have been worshiped by the people in the first place."
Kyousuke took the full brunt of the magical reaction and rolled across the scorched paddy field. The core of his spine ached from the pain he never should have experienced as the successful one.
"Kah...hah...???"
He groaned on the ground and nearly forgot how to breathe, but it could have been worse. He would have been hit by far more had he already summoned a Material. Then he heard a rustling sound. He looked over while holding his throat and saw Meinokawa Aoi looking down at him with her head reattached and unconscious Biondetta held under one arm.
The silver-haired girl needlessly pushed her chest out, causing that portion of her shrine maiden outfit to swell out.
"Honestly. Back before the convenient Blood-Sign method, magicians said you only counted as a proper beginner once you could eliminate the reaction assaulting your body. I feel like I'm looking at a chef who specializes in using a peeler and doesn't actually know how to use a knife."
From Kyousuke's perspective, that sounded like trying surgery using the techniques from a time when no one knew to sterilize their tools. Attempting a few reckless stunts was not at all useful when standing on the modern front line where common knowledge had been entirely rewritten.
Regardless, Aoi herself was entirely unaffected.
"As I don't have a soul, I can't think of anything within me that could be shaken by that shock. That means this kind of reaction can't damage me. You should be thankful the Joruri Method can cheat like this. Let's get out of here while they're knocked out."
"Kh..."
Once she grabbed Kyousuke's arm and forced him to his feet, he kept his unsteady body standing and looked around the area. Olivia Highland and the helmeted man were indeed collapsed on the burnt paddy field.
"Hey, we don't have time to carry an extra burden, " said Aoi."I'm sure more of them will be after us soon. If we don't get out of here, they'll capture and interrogate...no, torture you."
"..."
"C'mon already. Besides, that would be suicide if she swallowed a homing beacon. I don't know if you're planning to stick your hand down her throat or up her ass, but can you really search the inside of her body right away?"
"..."
"Oh, come on! Come oooon!!"
"..."
Kyousuke ignored her as he moved his unsteady body and scooped up Olivia's small frame in his arms. The straw hat girl was not even 135cm tall, but she felt as heavy as a weightlifting barbell to Kyousuke at the moment.
Even so, he picked her up.
He had a reason to do so.
He had once bound a contract with her, saying he would save her.
(Olivia seems to be in the same state as anyone who loses. That means she'll be like this for 24 hours. I'm really glad that happened before I summoned a Material. )
"Okay. Let's get out of here, Meinokawa Aoi."
"Fine then, you kidnapper. Quit acting like some kind of hero, you pervert. But looking at her again, that is quite the getup that brat is wearing."
"She was born in the landlocked Kingdom F, so she had never visited the beach. She had this weird obsession with Japan's swimsuits and the idea of swimming in the ocean."
18, 000 rockets had leveled the village and then a great number of summoners and Repliglass soldiers had landed. It was best to assume Houbi Village had fallen into Bridesmaid's hands, but while the outsiders would be using satellite photographs and map data, Meinokawa Aoi knew the land inside and out. There was no hesitation in her step, so she likely already had a destination in mind.
Her scent and warmth were just like that of a human.
Kyousuke made a comment while following her.
"The Joruri Method can cheat, huh?"
"All cam-er-uhs and sen-sers cease to function inside an Artificial Sacred Ground, so it's already cheating that an artificial summoner or vessel can do anything inside there."
"That's true enough, but...no soul?"
"Yes. Is that a problem?"
"...But Meinokawa Renge was affected by the penalty when she lost. She was hit by the shock equivalent to seeing her god slaughtered before her eyes. That would mean she has something inside her that can be shaken."
"I see."
While placing limp Biondetta over her back, the very first Joruri Method gave a dry smile.
"Then it would seem future generations have gained some functions I lack. Now I'm jealous."
Freedom 903 was in a sorry state.
Kyousuke breathed the scorched air while carrying the small girl he had once fought alongside.
It felt like a warzone.
Nothing remained of Houbi Village and its refreshing breeze.
"...Dammit."
"Do not let it bother you. That child's evil actions are not your fault."
"No, I should have predicted this. Given how obsessed with me Bridesmaid and the White Queen are, I should have considered the possibility that they would also become a threat to people I know."
This went beyond Olivia Highland.
He pictured the Alices he had saved either in the past or by altering causality.
Librarian-chan and her sister, Isabelle and Murasame Kuina, Himekawa Mika and Ellie Slide, Sekurtiti and Azalea, Meinokawa Renge and Higan, and all of those before then. All of those people had paved his way to 903 Awards.
Just because they had not been targeted yet was no guarantee they never would be.
"If you ask me, they might have been intentionally left alone, " said Aoi while carrying Biondetta whose body was defenselessly sprawled out.
"...What?"
"Do not feel bad. Because I am a lookalike for the Queen, I feel like I can understand how she thinks to a certain extent. Yes, I simply feel like I can."
The silver-haired shrine maiden sighed.
She was still carrying Biondetta over her back, so the two girls' cheeks were rubbing together.
"What a girl in love fears more than anything else is being ignored. And on that front, you are very easy to manipulate. I mean, you have announced you refuse to let anyone die, so it's obvious from the start what someone has to do to get your attention."
"..."
"From the very beginning, you've displayed the one weakness you can never ignore. If someone dreaming of you is ever feeling uncertain, it goes without saying what she needs to do to put her mind at ease, right?"
Did that mean those girls would not have been targeted if Kyousuke was not "like this"?
Did that mean the best possible path Kyousuke had thought up had actually directly led to this hell on earth?
"That's ridiculous..."
"Indeed. But we can view this in a positive light. If the White Queen is playing one of the cards she had held in reserve, it means she is feeling the pressure. In other words, she feels the need to shake you using one of her trump cards."
While they held their conversation, Meinokawa Aoi guided him to an irrigation ditch dividing the paddies. This should have been in clear view of the satellites overhead, but there were a few exceptions.
For example, below an intersection with the ocean embankment.
When Kyousuke peered inside the round opening using his smartphone's LED light, he saw a rusted and broken grating with water falling even further down through it. It was not a problem for Kyousuke and Aoi, but if a small child like Olivia followed her curiosity and crawled inside, she might end up trapped.
There were numerous cracks, but the tunnel had not collapsed even after the downpour of rockets. Even with the disaster-prevention embankment so close by, it was unnaturally sturdy for a civilian structure.
"You can get underground from almost anywhere here. Burning a few scorch marks on the ground isn't enough for this Houbi land to collapse." With Biondetta still on her back, the silver-haired shrine maiden freed one of her hands and waved her slender finger."Since you're in contact with Renge of this generation, I assume you understand the Meinokawa Shrine's situation. Including the fact that Guard of Honor came to steal the Joruri Text."
"You mean...?"
"They eventually managed to get it due to the gambling debt, but there were a few largescale attacks before that. With the Toy Dream policy underway in various remote rural regions, no one cares much about a poor, declining village. This is not the first time that this Houbi land was destroyed. Rebuilding afterwards is our way. It's like a filming set for the silver screen."
Was that why the Meinokawa Shrine's wood had smelled surprisingly new for such an old building? They had perfectly recreated it, including intentionally damaging the wood and adding moss.
"We are a tough people both inside and out. And that includes Renge and Higan. So don't worry about it too much."
"...But if you can get in from anywhere, won't Bridesmaid notice the underground tunnels too?"
"They will of course find an entrance or two. But the inside is a complex three-dimensional labyrinth and their sat-a-lite fotos and map daytuh will not be of any use. It will take them ages to map it all out themselves."
"Could they smoke everyone out with poison gas or flamethrowers?"
"It is possible, but we can switch between several patterns for the wind direction inside the tunnels. By determining the routes through which air can travel, we can keep the damage to a minimum even if they send poison in through an entrance."
It did not matter that they were wearing sneakers and leather boots. They stepped into the source of the unpleasant mixture of a muddy and salty smell and let their feet sink into the sludge as they trudged on. They saw a few branching tunnels that were protected by metal grating, but one of those had a door locked with a chain and combination lock.
"Um, what was the combination again...? N-no! It isn't that I've forgotten!! Don't treat me like an old lady!!"
"I didn't say anything. Now move out of the way."
Aoi hopped up and down, causing a variety of jiggling, and made a preemptive denial while blushing, but Kyousuke pushed her aside and grabbed the longish combination lock. He set all of the 8 digits and then unlocked it.
"Huh? How did you do that???"
"That's the kind of world this is."
Kyousuke began to think this might also prevent any harm even if Bridesmaid used poison gas. Anything inorganic was not a real threat. As everyone fled through the complex arrangement of tunnels, they would just so happen to make the correct choice.
(On the other hand, things could get very bad very quickly if they have actual people perform a direct search. They might miraculously find the villagers right away. )
"What do we do now?"
"Those...Bridez-made? Anyway, those people with a Western name are Queen worshipers, right? To be honest, this isn't looking good. I don't know how skilled you are, but I doubt we can push them back in a direct confrontation. It would be a lot of work with little excitement, so it would be boring and a pain to go along with."
"Well, I suppose so."
To reiterate, Kyousuke's group gained nothing from fighting that Queen-worshiping cult. It would not help them complete the trump card the boy had in mind. Win or lose, they would lose something if they were caught in a battle with that pain-in-the-ass group.
Unfortunately, Bridesmaid was not taking their circumstances into consideration.
"Now, it's about time we got serious. Even if the role was forced onto me, I am a shrine god and I must protect the people of Houbi Village."
"And how will you do that?"
Meinokawa Aoi shifted defenseless Biondetta's position on her back as she answered Kyousuke's question.
"They worship the White Queen, so let's break that mental pillar and bring them to a state of apathy. The best course of action is to construct your method of killing the Queen and shove that blade toward the Queen's throat."
"..."
"Even with the appropriate knowledge and technique, you cannot acquire an artificial vessel with special artificial blood in its veins if we do not have a workshop to give it physical form. But how many such workshops do you think are hidden in this village? ...Well, let's just say that Bridez-made cannot find them all if they cannot even grasp the full scope of these underground tunnels."
(...Artificial blood, hm?)
That term had not come up before, so Kyousuke made sure to make a mental note of it.
They could not see the stars in the narrow underground tunnel, but Kyousuke's sense of direction told him they were generally moving from the ocean to the mountain.
"A cruise ship has been abandoned at the top of the mountain. It is called the St. Elmo."
"At the top of the mountain? Why???"
"It was originally used for leisurely cruises in the crater lake, but an earthquake created a deep crack in the lake bottom. It dried up and now only the ship remains."
"So is that the workshop?"
"One of them, yes. Even if Bridez-made breaks into a government office daytuh-bays, they shouldn't find anything if they only check for 'buildings'."
Whether or not something showed up in a search could sometimes lead you astray far more than whether or not that thing was visible. Of course, they would likely discover it if they spent months performing a thorough search, but Kyousuke and Bridesmaid were in the middle of a blitzkrieg where speed was everything. Kyousuke would not give them the time.
After they continued on for a while, their surroundings began to change.
The sewer-ish smell vanished and the plain concrete walls and floor were replaced by the smooth curves of a limestone cave. Rather than developing the area according to a blueprint, they had apparently forcibly connected the tunnel to a nearby cave. It felt a lot like a sightseeing cave.
(Since the awful smell hasn't gotten in here, she might have been right about their ability to control the flow of air to fight against smoke and poison gas. )
While thinking about that, they climbed the gradual slope of the limestone cave. Perhaps because it was so damp, none of the evacuees were gathered here. Closed environments helped mold spores harm people's lungs and mouths, so that dampness could not be taken lightly.
"Phew. I'm soaked just from all this walking."
"..."
"Hey, quit thinking and try blushing a little. A young maiden's clothing is all wet and see-through. And I can't cover up while carrying this summoner."
"I'm glad to see the Joruri Method has more horsepower than a normal person."
"Nn, mhhh!!"
For some reason, Aoi puffed out her cheeks as the two of them continued on.
That reaction was less like an old lady and more like a little sister who was ignored after putting on a show of as much sexiness as she could manage.
Once they arrived at the edge of a large underground lake with a metal bridge across it, the unpleasant moisture soaking their hair and skin had vanished. This area seemed to be well ventilated.
"...This would be a good place to rest."
"Oh, I see! So wet clothing just wasn't good enough for you. You were waiting until you could see a girl bathing. I have to admire your dedication, you utter pervert!!"
"That nonsense aside, we need some place to set down Olivia and Biondetta."
"Just as a warning, it is quite rude to not bat an eye when faced with a defenseless girl."
He already knew from his experience with the true white evil that this kind of idiot would only look at you like an idiot if you idiotically did what they claimed to want.
The underground lake's water was probably used to create a division between the cave system's currents and moisture. And the area around the lake was not entirely cut off from human civilization because, after taking a short walk, they discovered a small shrine-like wooden building. It did not seem religious and they found several blankets and camping goods in plastic packaging inside.
There was also some portable food on the level of canned goods.
"This is surprisingly gourmet. There's rice and freeze-dried vegetables that only need hot water. And all sorts of seasonings too."
"Well, it takes a lot for salt or soy sauce to go bad."
Aoi must not have liked how her damp leather boots felt because she stripped them off. All of the supplies were carefully packaged, but that was likely to prevent snakes or bats from getting into them. However, Kyousuke was less interested in the oddly unique options than he was in the world-famous cup noodles.
"...This is an incredibly outdoorsy selection."
"Well, in this rural area, there isn't much else to look forward to. And look at this lineup: if they weren't going all out, there wouldn't be so many options."
From the looks of this, the entire three-dimensional labyrinth might have similar supply areas just like the pay phones and vending machines that never seemed to entirely go away. Instead of preparing with a specific threat in mind, it felt more like they had been having fun turning it into something like a secret base.
(I wouldn't be surprised to find traps that send boulders rolling down slopes or levers that change waterways. )
Kyousuke prepared himself for the worst when it came to that slight "playful spirit" he sensed here.
At any rate, they finally managed to let Olivia and Biondetta rest while defenseless both inside and out. As Aoi had said, their hair and clothing were quite wet just from the dampness of the cave. Olivia's school swimsuit had grown a deeper shade of blue. After lowering the two girls onto the wooden floor, Kyousuke and Aoi broke open the clear packaging and pulled out a few blankets.
"The losers can't resist anything, so if we leave them be, they could catch cold or even come down with pneumonia."
"I'm aware of that, " said Kyousuke."But if we lit a fire inside here, it would cause carbon monoxide poisoning. That means we need to remove their wet clothing to dry them off."
"Now, then. I'll leave the decision to you, but who will dry off who? Choose, boy. Face the abyss within yourself: A flat chest or giant boobs. I am willing to let you enjoy your fetish. Hah hah!!"
"..."
"...Okay, okay. I'll do both of them. I'll be a good girl."
"Dry off Biondetta's white snake too. Be extra careful with it since it's cold blooded."
When Kyousuke put his hands on his hips and glared at her, Meinokawa Aoi shrank down. After tossing his vessel a towel, the boy left the shrine(?).
As far as he could see, there was no sign of Bridesmaid summoners or Repliglass soldiers hiding in the area. Even by the large underwater lake, there were only so many passageways leading here, so he considered setting up a simple trap.
Given the large space and the excellent ventilation, he figured he could start a fire next to the lake.
(That said, that's only if we decide to wait around here. )
It was an entirely unnecessary action, but Kyousuke picked up a nearby stone and threw it toward the vast lake.
(20 times. )
After making a prediction, he counted the number of times the stone skipped off the water's surface.
(19 times. )
He made sure it was not just a coincidence.
(23 times. )
He finally breathed an exasperated sigh.
Kyousuke had not thrown the stone after making every last physics calculation like Laplace's Demon. He had intentionally omitted all calculations in order to prove something.
"...Honestly, this is one hell of a world. It's like I can manipulate coincidence."
And this was no time to be doing that.
At the moment, he had two major choices available to him.
The first was to wait for Olivia and Biondetta to recover so they could replenish their fighting force before continuing on to the cruise ship at the mountain's peak. Olivia was technically not an ally, but having to carry her around and having her walk on her own two feet would make a major difference.
The second was to not wait for them to recover and start for the cruise ship right away.
Simply put, it was a choice between speed and caution. The pros and cons of both went without saying.
"Heyyy!"
Aoi walked over from the double doors of the shrine(?).
She had apparently finished drying off the two defenseless girls, getting them dressed again, and placing the blankets over them.
"The sun has likely set outside, so it wouldn't hurt to fill our bellies."
"?"
He realized Aoi was holding some cup noodles and freeze-dried foods against her surprisingly ample chest.
"Um, just out of curiosity...Renge could eat like normal, but what about you?"
"Have you not seen 'inside' Renge? Just because we use artificial parts doesn't mean our body is structured any differently. If we are injured, we bleed red. If we move around a lot, we get hungry. I like to have more than 30 minutes of exercise a day to stay healthy and I ideally get 8 hours of sleep a day. Although since I am artificial, I can switch all that activity on and off."
"Oh? So you're like a dried-up human water bear."
"You just pictured something incredibly pathetic just now, didn't you!? Toryahh!!"
Out of nowhere, Meinokawa Aoi made a strange cry, threw her hands into the air, and collapsed backwards into the clear water.
"What are you doing!? This is kind of an emergency situation!"
"Oh, shut up! An impertinent brat called me a dried-up old hag, so I'm just hydrating myself is all! Besides, I was already wet from all this moisture. What does a little more matter?"
The lake was not all that deep right at the shore, so Aoi sat up and laughed. Some of the clear water pooled up on the surprisingly large chest of her shrine maiden outfit.
"How about you? Build up too much stress and it will affect your performance, so it might be a good idea to blow off some steam."
"...Then could you please try harder to avoid giving me any stress in the first place?" Kyousuke brought an exasperated hand to his forehead."And this is the same as when you played in the river. It's the wet clothing that's bothering me."
"Mwa ha ha. And what if I said I was doing it on purpose?"
"..."
"Keh heh heh. I'm joking, " said Meinokawa Aoi as she trudged back over to him."Quit taking everything so seriously. It's stifling."
It was not that he maintained an unshakable heart; he simply knew how to quickly recover when it was shaken. And that was not just splitting hairs because every little thing seemed to transform into a major event around her.
Meanwhile, Aoi stood on one leg, tilted her head to the right, and tapped her palm against the side of her head. She seemed to have water in her ear, but she did not seem to notice that her careless action also caused her surprisingly large breasts to move up and down.
"Yo...ho...Ah, that got it out. Hey, can we start a fire here?"
"I warned you. So are you getting chilled?"
"No. After letting dust gather on me for so long, I want to fill my belly for the first time in forever. And I can't hold back any longer with those cup noodles right in front of me. Oh, I want some junk food so badly right now!"
"...Well, it is unlikely Bridesmaid will show up now."
Aoi's face lit up and she lined up her prizes along the edge of the lake.
"What, do you only have an oil lamp? A campfire would seem a lot more outdoorsy!"
"...You are freezing, aren't you?"
"No, not really. Although I am soaked, so I could stand to let my clothes dry. Uryahh!!
She let out another strange cry.
And of all things, she reached for the string of her bright hakama and undid the knot. From there, gravity did its job. To describe it with a sound effect, it fell right down with a "fwoosh".
Unlike a normal kimono, it lacked a separate obi, but the kosode being so wet paid off and the front remained in place and the collar stayed together. It may have been something like throwing a wet towel against the wall.
An incredibly grim look came to Shiroyama Kyousuke's face.
"What are you doing?"
"Mwa ha ha. There's no need to force that serious look. You're secretly panicking because I already mentioned that girls in traditional clothing don't wear Western underwear, aren't you? But too bad! The kosode is made long, so you still can't see anything!! Just like a girl in nothing but a baggy dress shirt!!"
"I can't believe this. And come to think of it, I never asked Renge if you were waterproof. This is going to be a lot more difficult if all this water is making you malfunction."
"Hold it! Why aren't you blushing!?"
In her Japanese-style naked dress shirt(???), Meinokawa Aoi raised both arms in anger, but not even Kyousuke knew how he was supposed to react here.
Regardless, Aoi herself set her butt down on the ground, pouted her lips, and twisted the knob on the oil lamp that would boil water for them.
"Nn."
"What's that weird groan for? Did you get all sandy when you sat down?"
"I really don't think you should take such a realistic view of a girl in nothing but a single piece of clothing!! And a proper woman knows how to protect herself without letting it show on her face!!"
"Except it's most definitely showing. And the way you're lifting your hips is about to let something else show, so fix that!!"
| ← Ch. 076 | Ch. 078 → |