novel
| ← Ch.45 | Ch.47 → |
──70 hours had pa. s. sed.
Seated on the ground of square 308, Izuna gazes at that. Many races were being destroyed, and the world, the planet, was being broken to the point of no return.
Sora's group was being projected by the Old Deus. They were getting cornered, and some impatience was beginning to show in their faces. But the one viewing that, Izuna, wasn't uneasy anymore. She was just remembering.
Remembering the old story that Tet told her, a story that had never been told. A story about the ones who ended the Great War of the past, the two who resembled Sora and s. h. i. +ro a little bit. Those two accomplished incredible feats, but even so, their older sister still said this:
── 'Why am I so frustrated.... ?'
To answer that question, the one who obtained the "Suniaster", Tet, had said:
── 'Well, that is because the game is not over yet'
In the distant, distant past, on the day he obtained the "Suniaster", the day he published the "Ten Pledges". The one who changed and remade the world, Tet, hadn't finished speaking. Even though Izuna reviewed her memories many times, she was certain he said this:
── 'Come on, let's continue this game'
The game didn't start in that distant, distant past. It had already started ─ It was just continuing.
A myth that could not be told would soon be continued in a myth that could be told. What those two desired in the past was never granted, but it's future was succeeded without interruption by these two....
A single victory will change the endlessly acc. u. mulated defeats into meaningful defeats. But right now, no one, not even Sora and s. h. i. +ro, had obtained that single victory.
── Until they finally attained a single victory in which no one is sacrificed.
"... Tet, Izuna called you a stinking liar, desu.... Forgive me desu."
With her long ears hanging, Izuna lowers her head, apologizes and thinks. Sora and s. h. i. +ro resemble those two, but just a little bit. Sora and s. h. i. +ro are not as strong as those two, that's why she's relieved. Surely, Sora and s. h. i. +ro will not make the same mistake as Riku and Shuvi.
And Izuna sees how the Old Deus' robotic, unimpressed face trembles just a little.
"... sorry, desu. Izuna is not very bright... so I can't answer, desu."
── 'Is there anything you believe in?'
How should Izuna answer? What goal should she set? As expected, she doesn't know. But, even so, she intuitively concludes: Izuna was not wrong.
"If you die it's not a victory, desu! I believe that dying is absolutely wrong, desu!
──Silence was the only response, and Izuna looks at the projected spectacle one again.
At the world that was being destroyed, but that was fine. She smiles. After all, that should be the world that they were kind enough to break...
Inside his accelerating thoughts, he remembers a boy from the past.
── 'If you had to die for the sake of the world, what would you really do?' He remembered the day he thought that.
On that day he thought that winning "Alone" was meaningless, and laughed. But, even winning the two of them "Together" was still not enough. In that case he needed a method to win together with the whole "World". But such a method may not exist in this world, he had half given up─
──But, it existed in "That World".
That day, when he heard the ten rules, and stood on the land where the giant chess pieces could be seen in the distance. The boy from the past, a black-haired, black-eyed young man held hands with his younger sister, and smiled broadly.
── 'I finally found it'
There, a method existed. The "Ten Pledges". The "Opening Move" required to go beyond the "Established tactic" in which everything you do is accompanied by sacrifices.
── 'It is also an extremely opportunistic world'
He rejoiced, and on the other hand, smiled bitterly at that. But it wasn't simple opportunism. Taking an opportunity, they challenged the things that they had run away from, in exchange for everything, until someone finally obtained it. Who could ever believe in such opportunism?
If it wasn't for the fact that the Great War did end with the pledges, it would be a ridiculous tale. That extraordinary human makes the young man feel embarra. s. sed. But now this is what he thinks:
Was that guy.... No.
Were you.
── Really okay with that?
I... just can't think that's the case.
── A pa. s. sing impact interrupted Sora's accelerated thoughts.
The date displayed on the "Map" was: "Year -53 B. T.". In other words, there were only 15 minutes remaining until the 72-hour time limit expired. The light that hit very close to them evaporated the earth's crust and blew it up to the stratosphere.
── And the "Storm of death" that concealed their "Capital", Avant Heim, was blown away ─ it was ripped off.
"Hey! What should we do? What is going on!?"
Steph screamed with tears in her eyes, it seems that the impact just now had caused her to trip.
"Don't ask me! There are unexpected things happening on top of the expected things!"
"............... Even though.... . we were so.... confident"
Sora and s. h. i. +ro screamed a reply while they kept moving their pens. They glare at the "Map". Up until 15 hours ago, it clearly revealed the world, and showed the war's situation, but now, it didn't show almost anything, and was mostly black again, but, most importantly, it didn't accurately show the war situation anymore.
"Well, we knew from the beginning that it was an impossible game! The important thing was having fun on top of that, right!?"
"... It was a challenge.... to see how far... we could go.... in an impossible game"
Sora and s. h. i. +ro bring their impatience under control, they force themselves to laugh together, and keep moving their pens.
──They knew that they wouldn't be able to read the movements of the races they didn't have enough information about.
But of all the races... Sora privately grits his teeth in frustration.
To think that the "Lunamana" were already on the red moon in the era of the Great War. The guys they had the least information about, intervened. It was a variation that was completely unreadable. They caused the destruction of the two strategic axes, the Elves and the Dwarves.
Because of the the falling moon opening the skies, both the Dhampir, and the "Scout units", were crushed by the upheaval of heaven and earth, they were annihilated. Thus, the map was now blackened like it was when the game started. The only thing projected was:
The situation of the few remaining "Immanity Units" and "Cities", which kept disappearing even now. And, as if they were looking for something, or perhaps driving someone into a corner, a few enemy units were closing the encirclement on Sora's group's "Capital" now that it had been stripped of the "Storm of death". Both the units that they could move, and even the units from other races that they could move indirectly, were nonexistent. There was already almost nothing they could do.
Jibril lowers her head and murmurs:
"... Master. That's enough. Please, 'Order' me─"
But Sora and s. h. i. +ro interrupt her and immediately reply:
"Shut up♪"
"... Jibril, sit ♥"
Jibril was forced to sit in seiza, and Steph continues:
"Whoooa!? There was something bright just now! Wait!! A flas. h. !. +?"
Was the sound already outside the audible range? It was a point-blank shot that couldn't even be heard. There were lights and shocks, and only Steph kept running back and forth from the "Mail Box".
".... Masters, at this rate, as a bonus Dolchan will also die..."
"I came this far and I'm still treated as a bonus!? I'm seriously going to cry soon!"
Steph was the only one who didn't understand the circ. u. mstances but still accompanied Sora, s. h. i. +ro, and Jibril. That heart full of infinite benevolence, moved even Sora and s. h. i. +ro so much they were shaking but─
"Please order me to 'Hand over the dice and die'─!!"
Jibril's tearful scream shook the hall. That voice froze Steph in her tracks, what's more, the following words made her doubt her ears:
"... I'm scared... Please... forgive me already..."
As if she was making a trembling supplication, Jibril embraces her diary and wets the floor. Seeing that, Sora and s. h. i. +ro don't respond. Steph inevitably becomes speechless again. Silence was the only answer... and.
What broke the long silence was a flash and an impact. The impact made Steph jump and also made them really feel that "Death" was approaching.
"... I know that you are making such a risky bet for the sake of someone like me... but I must say."
So she wiped her tears to smooth things over,
"For your incapable servant this is a great honor... but please think about your position"
Thus, Jibril holds out 9 dice from her chest, and says:
"... The Flugel have no fear of death. Please, 'Order' me..."
── If she handed over her dice, her memories would disappear ─ and she would be unable to commit suicide.
Therefore, since Jibril is Sora and s. h. i. +ro's possession, a compulsory order is necessary. That is the only way this death game will end while satisfying Jibril's selfishness. She smiles, and talks as if she was already satisfied:
"It is not necessary for you to die. Please, just end m─"
"Shut up, okay!? Just be silent already, you're distracting me!!"
Sora's voice interrupted Jibril's words. It was sharper than the destructive impacts, and shook the hall more. And then, Sora and s. h. i. +ro finally stopped their pens and turned around with an angry expression.
──When they see their seething anger and fierce eyes, both Jibril and Steph gulp.
But they immediately go back to writing "Commands", and continue yelling:
"'It's scary so let me die'!? 'Dying is not scary'!? G. o. d d. a. m. n it shut up!! We are so scared of death that we are not just going to leak p. i. s. s, our very lives are about to leak out, G. o. d d. a. m. n it!!"
"... Nii... when was... the last time... you went to the... toilet... !?"
── 'Ah, as expected, I'm about to leak, G. o. d d. a. m. n it!' Sora lamented privately.
Sora handed Steph a new "Command", almost throwing it, and said:
"It's just meaningless chatter!! To put it simply, aren't you just showing off?!!
Like that, he got straight to the point.
──Losing my memories is so scary I want to die. But?
I don't want to cause trouble. I want to win. If I can't, the I want to die. However?
I am evil. My Masters aren't evil. But, however.
That is the only way. Please live my share too─
"Who do you think we are!? Who are your Masters!?"
"... If you are... the possession... of two hikikomori.... neet gamers... !"
"Then act properly! Like that!! Be completely and thoroughly lame"
And, as Steph perplexedly mails "Commands".
──One of Immanity's cities was literally annihilated.
They revealed it on purpose to distract them, and as it disappears from the "Map" together with the display:
"Something like: I don't want to die!! I don't want to be dead!! I don't want to lose, nor give up my memories!! So please, help me!! If we lose everyone will die, but I don't want that either!!"
Sora and s. h. i. +ro kept writing instructions as they yelled:
"Follow your master's example a little, it's fine to cry and scream lamely!!"
"─────────"
And, Jibril's face became strained, as if she was holding back the tears at the corner of her eyes.
────71 hours and 45 minutes.
"Just one death is necessary!? One, three, one hundred million, or one trillion are all the same, I don't care!!!"
"... B-but! If this keeps up, and the "Capital" were to fall─"
Sora, s. h. i. +ro, and Steph, no, at worst, all the partic. i. p. ants in the game against the Old Deus will get dragged in.
"I-I-If it comes to that! We will worry about it then!?"
"... I-It won't... fall, maybe... ?"
But, in response to Jibril's complaint; Sora, with a falsetto voice; and s. h. i. +ro, with tears in her eyes, scream their answers in question form.
Apart from the capital, only 2 cities remain, using one whole city as a decoy only buys them a few minutes. They couldn't buy even 50 days of in-game time, and after that, there were signs of the enemy units approaching again. Sora and s. h. i. +ro don't stop their hands even now, and just think.
────71 hours and 49 minutes.
... There is no way there is any evidence.
Just situational conjectures, with more conjectures piled on top. But Sora and s. h. i. +ro, for some odd reason, could say this with certainty, as if they had seen it with their own eyes.
... That there was an extraordinary idiot that arbitrarily decided that this h. e. l. l of a "Great War" was just a game. While he was getting grilled by the fires of war, and sinking into despair, he wanted to show that the "Great War" could be altered to have zero sacrifices. To go beyond that "Established tactic". It was an incredibly foolish dream. Struggling, writhing, he challenged the whole world, but it was still not enough.
──But the next time... the next time, for sure.
There was a d. a. m. n cool gamer that kept saying that up until the moment he died.
────However────!
"As if we could become that strong─ as if we could live in such a cool way!!"
At the screaming Sora's "Command", one more city is engulfed by light, and disappears, but this time, the "Enemy Units" that made it disappear were dragged in, and disappeared too. The "E-Bomb" they had plundered from the departed Dwarves, was ignited by the "Enemy Units"' own attack.
A land that couldn't even be called a continent anymore was destroyed. One city and 177 "Immanity Units" remain.
But even so, Sora and s. h. i. +ro think together even now.
────71 hours and 51 minutes.
── That cool, G. o. dlike gamer failed. The one who ended the Great War, and made the opportunity of the "Ten Pledges", was an awe-inspiring great person! But alas! I will repeat it as many times as necessary: he failed!!!
"Isn't that right!? If we were actually cool, we'd win against Jibril now, right!?"
Sora glances at the mathematical formula that s. h. i. +ro gave him, understands with perfect synchrony, and quickly moves his pen.
"So! Saying something like: 'Jibril, I won't let your sacrifice be in vain' while crying manly tears ─ Lying to both you and myself would be so cool, right!? So manly that I'd be gay for that person, might as well present my b. u. t. t, but let me ask you one thing!!" Sora screamed.
And as if he was asking all those too cool protagonists, he screams again:
"─ After showing off like that, I dare you to tell me: what would remain!?"
The futures of s. h. i. +ro, who had teary eyes; Steph, who was frightened as she ran; and Jibril, who hung her head─?
"You will eloquently run away by dying, quit without a 2 week notice! These guys will cry miserably and quit too!! The only thing remaining would be a virgin burdened with your karma too, what's up with that!? It is so incomprehensible that I will get a headache, you know!?"
── Ah, that's right. Apart from that, one more thing remained.
The next time for sure, it will end without having to sacrifice anyone. In a world where everything is decided by games. That guy certainly left behind an "Opening Move": the "Ten Pledges". So awesome. We don't feel like we could ever do such a thing at all. But ─
── What did the person himself think about that─!?
The G. o. d-like gamer that did all that. Just what did he want to do!? Did he want to end the Great War!? Save the world!? That is absolutely wrong!! He had such an absurd dream, and he actually tried to make it real, he was truly an astronomically big idiot! Would humanity's most prideful and biggest idiot really be motivated by such a "Goody two-shoes" reason?
──There is no way!!
"Only we can say that the number of years without girlfriend=our age on every update, only we can ask for the definition of 'friend' with a straight face, only us: the hikikomori gamers! Some people like to condescendingly say that 'people can change', but there is no way flies can change into whales, there is a limit, a limit!! ──In that case!!"
As if to take his mind off the fear, he stops yelling, and takes one big breath. Sora says in a small, controlled voice:
"... Let's live like that... ?"
"Will we obtain everything? Or lose everything? It's all or nothing, but I won't say 'sorry'"
His voice was decisive, but it also trembled. His hand firmly grasped s. h. i. +ro's, but his foot kept rapping on the floor.
──That is who they are. The siblings exchange a look and smile.
I don't wanna die, I don't wanna be dead either─ I don't wanna regret anything either. I don't wanna, I don't wanna, I don't wanna. These two small children, Sora and s. h. i. +ro, rejected everything and came this far.
"... In the unlikely event ── well, there is no way, but when we kick the bucket, we will take everyone with us♪"
"... So... give it up... and at least, prepare yourself...."
Those spoiled children said something so selfish it makes you think that they never learned any self-control. It was a refres. h. i. +ngly lame declaration.
"Let's have fun until the very end!! Even in such a thrilling game, okay!?"
As if it was in response to Sora's laugh, one more city disappeared together with the "Enemy Units".
Using nuclear weapons inside your own territory. They used the so-called "Belkan self-defense strategy" ─ No.
It was already nothing more than a suicidal attack, and if those kept piling on─
●──Five minutes and 42 seconds remaining.
But, even now, Jibril hangs her head in shame and mutters:
"... But, even so... It's my fault..."
Only Steph caught that, and replies:
"... No... Those two are just crazy... probably."
Jibril had her head down, but when she heard Steph's reply, she looked up at her smile.
"If we have to sacrifice someone, then we will kill everyone without telling anyone. It is a perplexingly irrational thought, but"
Steph had a perplexed smile, but she said that eloquently, and starts running again.
"─ That's why they won't sacrifice anyone! Whether it is right, or wrong, it is an irrational thought that I want to believe in!!" As she understood that, she mails another "Command"─
●──71 hours and 58 minutes.
Without even needing to look at the "Map" they saw the "Enemy Units" approaching. The moment the enemies were one step away from stepping into the "Capital", they were stricken with the conviction that everyone was going to die. Even then, Sora and s. h. i. +ro, fiercely kept looking for a breakthrough, but their hands had stopped.
──19 Units remain. The only remaining city was the "Capital". There was nothing they could do. What's more, they couldn't think of a single effective move.
Even so, they kept looking for an out inside their infinitely accelerated thoughts. Next to Sora, his sister was making a bitter grimace, while clutching her head, and suddenly.
── Just what did the human who ended the Great War want to do?
Why? That seemed to be something a stranger couldn't understand.
... That guy surely ─ no. As expected, he didn't care about the world.
He was just dissatisfied with it... that was all.
He just chose to live as he liked... that was all.
That's how he concluded that the magnificent method of "Ending the Great War" was─
"........................................... ."
s. h. i. +ro's face was dyed with impatience and uneasiness; she was biting her nails. Seeing this, Sora thinks. That guy simply wanted to see a smile, that was all. If he forgot about the world and ran away from everything, she wouldn't have smiled.
──For someone... like that──
──......
And inside his thoughts that were still accelerated without limit.
──Suddenly.
── "... Are we going to fail again?"
Someone's voice asked that question, but it felt like it echoed in front of him. Sora and s. h. i. +ro raise their faces together and, with a strange composure, they give the one who was there a bitter smile. Their thoughts were so accelerated that the information was consolidated into an abstract image. They were hallucinating.
There were two silhouettes that were dark like shadows, their faces were not clear either... they were standing apart.
── ".... aah, we might fail"
That was Sora's answer─
"But we will never make the same mistake as you────!!"
"... You are.. Such a handful... !!"
With that, Sora and s. h. i. +ro strongly rejoin the hands they had released without noticing. And, ignoring the other's surprise, they focus on a unit that appeared on the map for just an instant. Sora and s. h. i. +ro smile deviously, and write one "Command" at the same time.
The unit that teleported instantly. Sora cannot read its movements at all. s. h. i. +ro designates the "Ex-Machina Unit".
But she has no idea what to do with it. In s. h. i. +ro's place, Sora writes the instructions.
In this way, Sora and s. h. i. +ro write a "Command" that neither of them understand completely.
They wrote it hastily, and together, they threw it at Steph.
●────71 hours 59 minutes and 59 seconds.
With their thoughts accelerated to the limit, the view outside the Capital became colorless and soundless.
──Each second is eight hours── It was close to 30, 000 times faster. And yet they gave the impression that they could see it.
Approaching the Capital, was a conspicuously large Dragonia dragging along a mob of Units. They were certain that if it opened its mouth even once, they would all rush inside the Capital─
──Sora's mind was filled with countless flashbacks.
They were memories that he didn't want to remember, but that he wasn't allowed to forget. But, when he squeezes s. h. i. +ro's hand, she squeezes back and smiles. Sora thinks.
Even though s. h. i. +ro was kind enough to squeeze that hand dyed in red, he was still unable to do anything. He had finally turned his back on that world, for this world, where everything was prepared so well.
──This time for sure. If it's here. Here nothing is impossible. This is just what they wanted.
Those two put their everything into that "Command", and mailed it through Steph. At the same time ─
"Hahaha!! Allow me to show you Laputa's thunder──"
"... you shall be mowed down... !!"
Looking like they were having fun, Sora and s. h. i. +ro respectively screamed the "Lines that they wanted to try saying once" ranked 5th and 8th at Avant Heim's corpse, their "Capital".
──Next, an incredibly precise direct hit drowned them out.
An orbital bombardment was taking place, and an impact coming from directly above the "Capital" roared. Making heaven and earth scream, that absurd light pierced straight through the planet in a right angle.
The approaching crowd, and even the Dragonia's "Far Cry", it returned everything to nothingness. If the player s. p. a. ce wasn't separate, not even their particles would have remained.
"... S-Sora, s. h. i. +ro! Just what were your instructions!?"
As they were covered with that world ending light, Steph asks about what happened. Checking the time on their smartphones, Sora and s. h. i. +ro answer calmly:
"... I don't know... but, I thought that... the Ex-Machina... would do this"
"If that's what s. h. i. +ro thinks, then that's that. After all, I don't know either, but in any case"
And so, Sora reveals what he ordered the "Immanity Unit" to do:
"We told the Ex-Machina the Capital's coordinates. Then we tried to tempt them by telling them to try and end this♪"
In short, they did it "Somehow".
They so declared, but Sora and s. h. i. +ro's only response was the sound of something shattering. The cracks that spread across their field of view were an impact that the power that pierced through the planet couldn't match.
●────72 hours.
──And so, there were Sora and s. h. i. +ro.
They once again turn their eyes towards the vague contours, and show them a smile.
"We made a promise... that we wouldn't let each other's hands go ever again─"
"... that there wouldn't be... anymore, regrets... nor deaths..."
── Since you did the things that we couldn't do, you can be at ease.
──Because next, we will take up the things that you couldn't do.
When they said that, the shadows smiled just a little. But that must have been just their imagination...
── The s. p. a. ce that had been compressing one whole planet was released.
As if the twisted laws of physics were trying to remember their place. It seemed that both gravity and time had stopped inside that white s. p. a. ce. The only thing in it were four people floating around. Two of them were holding hands and laughing. When she heard Sora and s. h. i. +ro's mutterings:
"..................."
Jibril tries to think of something to say, but nothing came to mind. She had forced her own Masters to go through something like that. It was a blasphemy that deserved more than 10 thousand deaths ── No. Now she understood that even thinking that was a terrible insult... Even apologizing was out of the question.
Self hatred, apologeticness, inadequacy, imprudence─
Before she met them, she didn't understand those raging feelings, they were nothing more than simple vocabulary for her. Then, just what kind of face should she make?
"....... Haaaaaaaaaaaaa.... Well......."
Sora exhaled as if he was breathing out his soul too.
"Hmm... well. That was quite fun. You get a pa. s. sing grade Jibril-kun"
He said with a sour expression and a forced smile.
"... You brought us into a game that we had to lose. At that time, we were utterly defeated."
".... . It was fun.... But next time.... We will win completely..."
s. h. i. +ro also wasn't blaming nor criticizing her at all.
"── You did a splendid job making Blank suffer its first loss. But prepare yourself"
Just that......
"Make no mistake, this won't be settled with just a hundred, a thousand or even ten thousand of your pathetic defeats."
Sora said with a face that only expressed how frustrated he was at losing. They were acting tough, saying that there wouldn't be a second time. Her two masters were being poor losers. But Jibril, from the bottom of her heart, didn't understand... she was dumbfounded.
── "Utterly defeated"? ── "Loss"?
Just what were those two saying. It was supposed to be her last and worst game. But it wasn't the last, and they transformed into her best game, and on top of that...
They were even willing to say 'Let's play again' to someone like her.
── They obtained a "Defeat that can't compare to a mere victory" and yet.
Even so, a loss is a loss, and when she sees their frustration, Jibril, finally understands. The words that she should say come to mind first, and then, the expression she should make─
"... Thank you, Master, words are not enough to express my thanks..."
Overcome with emotion, she whispers that, and remembers.
──'If you have fun, give me an offering, give me two dice, okay♪'
They said that because if the task was not completed and they lost their dice, two of the three of them would disappear.
That's what her Masters said, so Jibril...
Something like an offering is not important, she grabs the dice from her chest and─
────【72 hours have pa. s. sed. Task failure acknowledged】
When she heard that voice... she couldn't understand what it meant anymore...
"... huh? Where is this place?" Jibril suddenly muttered.
She puts a hand on her cheek, and tilts her head. She just realized that she was standing alone in a gra. s. sland that moved like waves.
There was one white cube on her chest, and she was surrounded by a strange spiraling land.
Where was this? Why was she here? She didn't understand anything─
".... What?"
She was sitting in seiza, and when she tried to stand up, she noticed a small book on her lap.
── "When you lose your memories, read these 3205 pages" was written on the cover of this book.
But that was crossed out with a horizontal line, and below it, this was written:
── "For an idiot as big as you, the back cover is more than enough."
...... hmm, well let's find out who wrote this and kill them♥
With exactly zero seconds of consideration, she promptly turns the book around──
"... This is.... Immanity language? Such a minor language again..."
It was clearly not her handwriting, only a few words were written in a language she was not used to.
── "Don't worry. Just wait."
── "Jibril, sit♥"
Those incomprehensible sentences were scribbled there. Who wrote that, or what that meant, she didn't know, she just...
Jibril notices something on her cheek, and opens her eyes wide.
"... What!? Just what is this!?"
She screamed with surprise, but she knew what it was. It was something they called "Tears".
It was a liquid that protected the eyes of some living things. In some of those living things, it seems they also flowed to express emotions. The Flugel don't need to protect their eyes, they also aren't' supposed to have emotions like those─
"... Hmm... well, I don't understand, but..."
She didn't, but─
"For some reason... I feel like something really fun just happened. ♥"
──It isn't unpleasant, so let's say all's good for now.
Jibril wasn't aware of it, but she was shedding big tears with a big smile. She didn't understand the situation at all, however.
They might be someone else's words, but it seemed that obeying them was for the best. If she didn't worry about anything, and just waited sitting politely, then surely...
── Something much more fun would be waiting.
With no proof, Jibril embraces the book like it was very precious, and laughs with a song like voice.
| ← Ch. 45 | Ch. 47 → |