jueves, 25 de febrero de 2016
That was out of the question. It was absolutely out. The only existing goal for which Haruyuki was fighting as a Burst Linker was that of reviving Nega Nebulas and arriving together with Kuroyukihime beyond the «level 10» horizon for which she longed. What meaning was there in sacrificing his legion master and sub-master and having only himself survive?
Haruyuki was assailed by a momentary conflict; at that time. From below his path, a sharp hail reached him.
“Haru!!”
Taken aback, he turned his eyes there. The one greatly raising his left hand at a spot about two hundred meters from the foot of the bridge was a large-class avatar who had heavy light-blue armor, Cyan Pile. And then next to him was a yellow-green lightweight avatar, Lime Bell.
“Haru—!!”
Bell also shouted in a voice with all her might and greatly revolved the large bell equipped in her left hand. At the same time that an airy chime sound rang out, the bell was enveloped in a light effect of a fresh green color.
“—«Citron Ca—ll»!!”
Together with the enunciation of her technique name, she swung her hand bell straight down. The lime green light that effused out warmly wrapped up Haruyuki, who was in the middle of flight.
The damage received from the duels versus enemies inside the Imperial Palace and Suzaku’s heat wave from just a little bit earlier was healed in a twinkle. However, the wounds of Utai, who was still unconscious in his arms, remained as they were. Citron Call’s effect target was a single body, so it could not have two people recover simultaneously, but then in that
case should she not have healed Ardor Maiden first, whose damage was great?
For an instant, Haruyuki had difficulty grasping the intention of Chiyuri, who was restoring Silver Crow’s health gauge here and now. However, the shouting voice that Takumu subsequently emitted dispelled Haruyuki’s bewilderment.
“Haru, leave Maiden-san to us!” “…!!”
Haruyuki opened his eyes wide—right after, without hesitating he passed the body of Ardor Maiden, who was in his arms, to the outstretched arms of Cyan Pile below. Elevating his body, which had become light, in one go, he entered a loop turn with a tight radius. Piercing through the air howling in his ears, Chiyuri’s voice reached him.
“Haru, Senpai and Nee-san…!” “—Got it, leave it to me!!”
Haruyuki’s two childhood friends had hesitated, suffered, and decided it in his stead. That they would not let Kuroyukihime and Fuuko die here. That by all costs, they would go home with everyone together.
Backed by Takumu and Chiyuri’s emotions, Haruyuki soared again northward.
On his path, the Divine Beast Suzaku, who had likewise turned northward, was craning his long neck in the shape of an S and opening his beak wide. There were maybe five…no, three seconds till a super-intense heat breath would be released.
In front of his line of fire, Sky Raker, who was carrying Black Lotus on her back, descended, drawing out a parabola. Gale Thruster’s jet exhaust flickered irregularly and was on the verge of disappearing. That Enhanced Armament displayed overwhelming thrust, but once it used up its energy, there was a long recharge time that was imposed till the next time one could fly. There were no longer any means for the two to escape from Suzaku’s flames. From his vast bill, a glimmering orange light spilled out. The surrounding atmosphere became a heat haze and shimmered—.
—I won’t…let you do that!! “Wh…oooooooooa—!!”
With a force that burnt up all his remaining special technique gauge, Haruyuki caused the metallic fins on his back to vibrate. A faint light surrounded Silver Crow’s whole body. Penetrating the wall of wind pressure with the fingertips of his sharply extended hands, his avatar became a lance and soared.
Suzaku, whose right eye had been smashed by Kuroyukihime’s crushing blow, did not notice Haruyuki approaching from that side. Haruyuki plunged forth on a course that nearly grazed the large bird’s visage. He passed a couple dozen centimeters by the right side of his beak, which
was trying to spit out a conflagration at that very moment. In one stretch, he sprung out to the enemy’s front.
At his back, overwhelming waves of indignation toward him, the obstacle, were produced.
In front, the two Burst Linkers opened their eyes wide in shock. “Why…!?”
“Haruyuki-kun…!!”
With a momentum that made him nearly crash into them, under both arms Haruyuki carried the bodies of the two, who were trying to shout as if gasping. He held the slender waists of Sky Raker and Black Lotus, who were nearly equal size-wise, with all his strength, and in one gulp he changed his flight direction upward.
Their situation fairly resembled that of the «Ardor Maiden rescue strategy» the day before yesterday, where he had picked up Utai, who had appeared in the center of the altar, from the south. However, one thing that was different was that unlike Utai, who was on the ground, Kuroyukihime and Fuuko were still maintaining an approximate elevation of twenty meters. From here, they still had the leeway to change their direction toward their sole escape route—namely, straight up.
Abruptly, their surroundings were stained a deep crimson. Suzaku had fired his flame breath at last. An overwhelming torrent of heat-attribute
damage was imminent; if they took that hit directly, no matter what kind of Burst Linkers they were they would not elude evaporation.
“G…rrr…”
Clenching his teeth and bearing it, Haruyuki soared vertically with all the power he had.
Tch; the tips of his toes had grazed something. In one gulp, over a tenth of his health gauge was scraped away. He had probably touched not the main body of the breath but its surrounding damage zone, but he did not look down. He only glared at the cloudy blue-black sky of the
«Demonic City» stage and flew.
Even the slightest deviation from his path would not be tolerated. The reason was that super-gravity had been set on the left and right of the large bridge, which was a flight-prohibited zone, and invisible barriers extended infinitely along the gate of the Imperial Palace as well as the sky above the castle walls. The instant he touched those, his flight would be impeded, and they would fall.
What was permitted was only perfectly vertical ascension. He would fly straight up as far as he could fly, cutting off Suzaku’s target. After that, he would draw a large arc due south, fall down, and escape to the south side of the large bridge—.
Passing through the wind that howled like a dog, Kuroyukihime’s whisper resounded at his right ear’s side.
“…Good grief, you really…”
Following that, at his left ear was Fuuko’s suppressed laugh. “Fufu.., somehow, I had the feeling it would turn out like this.” “I’m sorry…after we return, I will fully apologize!”
Answering like that in the same manner as that of the day before yesterday, Haruyuki made the silver wings on his back quiver even more—
“Ah…!”
The one who had shouted was Fuuko. Feeling that something was abnormal, this time Haruyuki reflexively looked down.
The figure of the huge bird clad in flames could be seen to be surprisingly near. However, why. Though they had already reached an altitude near three hundred meters.
Basically—he had chased after them. The Divine Beast Suzaku, the protector beast who supposedly would not leave the south large bridge, its territory, was also ascending himself and was tailing Haruyuki and company.
The one remaining left eye of the enemy was narrowed as if sneering at them. Inside Haruyuki’s mind, a grave voice reverberated.
—Foolish.
—You cannot escape from my twin wings with those sham wings.
At the same time, Suzaku violently rang his wings, which were extended out twenty meters from side to side. His massive frame steadily accelerated, and the distance between them shortened.
“Kk…!”
Glaring straight up again, Haruyuki tried to raise his speed further. However, immediately after, he noticed a terrible truth.
His special technique gauge, which was supposed to have been fully charged when he had taken off inside the Imperial Palace, was already beginning to be depleted. However, if he thought about it that too was obvious. He had continued to fly all-out carrying first Utai, then Kuroyukihime and Fuuko; even if his gauge were consumed at a pace even several times faster than that of when he flew solo, it wouldn’t be odd.
—However, if his thrust were lost here, they would rapidly be burnt by Suzaku’s flames, and the three of them would die all together. And then their respawn point was directly under, basically the altar before the Imperial Palace’s south gate. Without a doubt, all of them would fall into the state of infinite EK.
While fixing his eyes on his special technique gauge, which was vanishing at a fearsome speed dot by dot, with a momentary thought Haruyuki examined all the action options he had.
Letting just Kuroyukihime and Fuuko escape? —Impossible. If they fell from this height, they would die instantly from the fall damage, and before that they would be killed by Suzaku, who was chasing them from directly below.
Escape south right now with a loop turn? —Impossible. In a state of being targeted by Suzaku, even if they turned, before they managed to reach the surface they would just take a direct breath blow.
Having the two of them attack Silver Crow on purpose and having his special technique gauge charged again? —Impossible. If their speed slackened even slightly when he received damage, they would rapidly be seized by Suzaku’s attack range.
They could only fly.
Even if his gauge were exhausted. Even if it was proclaimed that in the Brain Burst program, flight greater than this was not permitted. He would fly, destroying the system’s limits with the power of imagination and overwrite the phenomenon of inability to fly.
Image. A true image of «soaring».
The sole and greatest power conferred to the duel avatar «Silver Crow» of
«flight ability» had, in the Accelerated World, taken the shape of the emotional trauma that Haruyuki had always continued to carry.
His trauma was, namely, the feeling of wanting to run away. Cutting himself loose from the ground, which was full of things he detested, and
wanting to go a place that was high to the ends of the world, far to the ends of the world. Wanting to go to a world that shook off anything and everything and where only the speed of light existed. And then, wanting to forget everything.
However—.
At present, Haruyuki was questioning whether that was really «flying».
There was no bird that could continue to fly forever. They all ate, slept, and accumulated strength in order to fly for a while. Living to fly. Flying to live. Those two were one and were inseparable.
If so, even without wings at their backs, people in the real world too could definitely fly. Carrying what they were aiming for and what they wanted to overcome in their hearts, forming an image of those things’ realization, and advancing one step, one step at a time. Not facing downward and being swept along from day to day while harboring discontent but looking fixedly at the sky—the place they wanted to reach someday, and actively stepping forth. When they could do that, people would undoubtedly make their invisible wings flutter and would fly.
“…Fly…!”
While staring with all his heart at the sky of the Unlimited Neutral Field swirling with dark clouds, Haruyuki yelled briefly.
Not causing his propulsion-use objects, his so-called metallic fins, to vibrate due to numerical energy, his so-to-speak special technique gauge—.
Making the wings produced from his own heart beat due to the power of his image and flying.
In the past, at the apex of the Old Tokyo Tower, Fuuko, who had first initiated Haruyuki into the Incarnate system, had said it. That “If it’s you, then one day you may become able to fly in the sky with Mind Power alone. However, it will take an unbelievably long time for that.”
As both a Burst Linker and a user of Mind Power, Haruyuki was still a fledgling. Neither his training nor his experience was sufficient at all.
However, if he were to fly, then it was now. If he were unable to fly now, then for what purpose had he been born crowned with the name of
«Silver Crow»[38]?
Imagine. Imagine. The meaning of flying. The meaning of kicking the ground and aiming for the sky.
In Haruyuki’s vision, the phantom of a small scops owl flapping its white wings and soaring twinkled.
“—Fly, Crow!!”
At his right side, Kuroyukihime. “Fly, Karasu-san!!”
At his left side, Fuuko shouted.
They all melted together into one silver imagination, ran through Haruyuki’s body, and cohered at both his shoulder blades. And then, with the eyes in his heart, Haruyuki watched them. The ten metal fins extending from Silver Crow’s back sparkling dazzlingly, changing shape, and being overwritten into genuine «wings» resembling those of birds of prey.
“Wh…o…ooooooa—!!”
At the same time Haruyuki bellowed, the last dot of his special technique gauge ran out. However, the thrust accelerating his entire body toward the sky did not disappear.
Flapping his wings, which were shining in a glaring silver color, with all the power he had, Haruyuki sonorously intoned the name of a new Incarnate technique welling up from the depths of his heart.
“—«Light…Speed[39]»—!!”
Pah…his entire vision was surrounded in a silver resplendence. He approached the phantom of the scops owl flying slightly ahead, touched it, and assimilated with it. While carrying two duel avatars, with a fearsome acceleration he had not experienced before Haruyuki soared. The thick clouds of the «Demonic City» stager drew rapidly near, and with a slight feeling of resistance he rushed into them.
The landscape was lost and was blotted out into a monochromatic deep gray. However, immediately a crimson light shone from below. Suzaku was pursuing them even further. The enemy’s ascension speed was also clearly increasing. The two bodies of contrasting size in flight vertically pierced the sky of the Accelerated World while drawing silver and crimson paths—.
A number of seconds later, suddenly his view became clear.
An unbounded sky tinged azure that seemed to absorb them. Below, a pure white sea of clouds that stretched out to the ends of the world. He could no longer even imagine how many hundreds, no, thousands of meters high their altitude was. However, Haruyuki flapped his silver wings still more powerfully.
With a sound of impact like a bo, a vast hole was opened in the sea of clouds below. From its depths, what appeared was a giant bird clad in flames that blazed a still greater bright red. Filling one eye to the brim with the volition of burning the trespassers who had twice invaded his territory to ashes by any means, the Divine Beast Suzaku plunged forth at almost the same speed as Haruyuki, who was flying with the power of Mind Power.
—As you desire…follow me if you can!!
Roaring inside his mind, Haruyuki squeezed out all the imagination that he had and beat his silver wings.
The tint of his surroundings gradually changed. From azure to ultramarine, and then to black. Beyond, a number of miniscule points of light flickered. They were stars.
Furthermore, he noticed narrow silver threads glittering vertically in a space separated far from him to his front right. That was—the «Hermes Cord». It was the low-orbit-class space elevator that went around at a super-high altitude in the Accelerated World. It was probably just traveling in the Tokyo vicinity.
Before long, his ascension speed gradually began to become dull. Haruyuki’s Mind Power had not weakened. It was not that; they had reached the limiting altitude of his «wings».
As much as he tried to override things with his imagination, as long as the propulsion engine extending from Haruyuki’s back was wings, he could not fly without air. That was right—here was already nearly outer space.
The deep crimson brilliance below them hot on their heels sharply weakened. At the same time, a roar filled with rage from the great bird swayed the very thin air.
While stopping the beating of his wings and ascending leisurely with only inertia, Haruyuki looked down. The flames covering at all times the entire body of the Divine Beast Suzaku, who had closely tailed the three of them up to here, had nearly disappeared. It was because the surrounding
oxygen was quite thin. His feathers, which had become exposed and were a glossy red, were covered in white frost from their tips—.
“—Now’s our chance!”
All of a sudden, Kuroyukihime had shouted. “Crow, let go! Raker, you can fly right!?”
Haruyuki reflexively opened up his arms, and in the world that had nearly no gravity, the jet black and light blue avatars drifted lightly. Fuuko nodded firmly, and turned her back to Kuroyukihime.
“Of course, Lotus!” “All right!”
Black Lotus securely held Sky Raker’s back with her legs. With a turn, Raker changed the orientation of her body and lit a blue light at the nozzle of the Enhanced Armament that was recharged to the extent where there was an energy gauge.
“—Let’s go!!”
Briefly announcing that, Fuuko unhesitatingly opened her booster full throttle.
While trailing blue-white flames, the two integrated avatars aimed at the Divine Beast who was cruising below and charged fiercely. Different from Haruyuki’s wings, the «Gale Thruster» that Sky Raker possessed was an
energy-jet-type propulsion engine. Only she could fly even in space, where there was no atmosphere.
While the Divine Beast Suzaku caused his left eye to burn with a dreadful rage, he widened both his half-frozen wings and tried to engage the two. However, however much he flapped his wings his massive frame hardly moved. Giving up on advancing forward, he opened his beak and tried to emit a flame breath, but even preheating it seemed to take more time than on the ground.
“Too slow!!”
Kuroyukihime gave a cry, opened the swords of her two arms wide at Fuuko’s back, and in that state drew them tight backward in the shape of the letter V. It was a motion Haruyuki was seeing for the first time. Her twin swords were enveloped in a white-blue splendor that reminded him of fixed stars.
“HA…AAAAA…!”
A relentless shout of vigor poured forth, and her arms’ aura focused at several points of light. They were eight apiece in number left and right; in total, sixteen. Accompanied by the confluence of light that was just like an enormous constellation, Kuroyukihime made her voice, which seemed to reach the ends of the universe, resound in a dignified manner.
“«Starburst…Stream[40]»—!!”
Her two swords struck alternately at a speed so great his eyes did not catch them. With each blow, a «star» that shone blue-white was fired one at a time, became a meteor, and directly hit Suzaku, who was far in the distance. Each time, a tremendous impact boomed and rocked Haruyuki’s body.
At the meteors, which had ridden even Sky Raker’s super-accelerated energy, were fired into him one after another, even the Divine Beast Suzaku had to strew about a shrill scream. From the huge body of the enemy who had lost his armor of flames, bright red feathers and damage scattered in huge quantities. Suzaku’s health gauge, which was also displayed in Haruyuki’s vision and reached five levels, was being whittled away at a momentum that made him doubt his eyes.
“HI…YAAAAA!!”
Without ceasing, Kuroyukihime’s twin swords flashed and fired forth the meteors her Mind Power had produced like a rapid-fire gun. Ten hits.
Eleven hits. A number of huge holes had already been drilled through both of Suzaku’s wings, and his torso and tail were also being torn up here and there. However, the flames of indignation smoldering in his left eye did not vanish. Even while receiving enormous damage, he opened his bill wide and forcibly tried to discharge a flame breath.
“—Ohhh!”
Haruyuki also reflexively roared and drew his right hand tight. He scraped an image of light together from his whole body, condensed it at a single point, changed it into a lance of light—and released it.
“«Laser Lance»!!”
The lance, which had become a streak of light and had run through the cosmos, overtook Kuroyukihime from the right side and hit Suzaku’s left eye without straying from its mark.
The breath’s flames, on the verge of being released, wavered, and in the momentary chance that was born, Kuroyukihime fired the final—the sixteenth star with an ear-splitting roar. Its light, which soared through the heavens while trailing a tail resembling a comet, made a direct impact on Suzaku’s oral cavity and caused the super-intense heat energy of his flame breath to spontaneously discharge…
A red light stained his entire field of vision.
An awfully huge fireball that seemed like a second sun was born, and immediately after an overwhelming torrent of energy dispersed in all directions.
With his outstretched two hands, with all his might Haruyuki seized the bodies of Kuroyukihime and Fuuko, who had been pushed back by the shock wave. He again carried them tightly at his left and right, received the flow of energy with the wings at his back, and changed it to thrust. It was a phenomenon where it just seemed as if Suzaku himself had
exploded, but the last one of their enemy’s health gauges was still about halfway remaining. They should not approach him recklessly.
Haruyuki drew a great arc, circled around the fireball, and entered a course descending toward the surface of the earth.
The red light gradually faded, and the figure of the huge bird on the brink of death became exposed. His dignity of a «god» had already disappeared; he only weakly flapped his wings, which were wounded and were in pieces.
—If we’re to defeat him, how about now!?
For an instant, Haruyuki thought that. However, immediately after, a strange light wrapped up Suzaku’s massive body. A triple aura of white, blue, and black. As he wondered what on earth that was and opened his eyes wide, before him—a further superphenomenon occurred. Suzaku’s injuries were rapidly mended from their extremities. His health gauge, which had lost ninety percent of its total, also began to recover rapidly.
“…I surely hadn’t thought that the support of the other «Divine Beasts» would reach outer space…”
At Kuroyukihime’s whispering voice, he finally recalled something. The four super-class enemies guarding the gates of the four cardinal directions of the Imperial Palace were mutually linked. Even if they attacked one and dealt one damage, if the other three were not in the middle of fighting they would help the one infinitely recover with their support ability.
“Chasing him too far is useless, Karasu-san.”
In response to Fuuko’s words, Haruyuki nodded. Today’s objective was not to defeat Suzaku but to get out of his territory. Fluttering his two wings, which were still enveloped in a silver Over-Ray, he seized the thin air and switched over to vertical descent. The surrounding darkness shifted from darkness quickly to ultramarine and then to a clear azure.
Before long, they drew near the thick sea of clouds, and they dived in headfirst. Passing through the gray veil, they went toward the sky of the
«Demonic City» stage. Far below, the large castle enclosed by perfectly circular castle walls and the bridge extending straight out from its south gate were visible. Haruyuki sighted the figures of three small people greatly waving their hands at the south end of the bridge.
At a hundred meters in the sky overhead the large bridge, he changed the orientation of his body and transferred to a leisurely glide feetfirst. Prudently manipulating his wings such that they did not jut out to the left or right of the bridge, he aimed for the ground with the greatest speed possible. The tile pattern covering the surface of the large bridge floated up, and its resolution increased—
At last, the tiptoes of Haruyuki, Kuroyukihime, and Fuuko simultaneously touched the bridge’s surface.
That was the south tip of the large bridge, basically, a spot one meter from the boundary of the territory of the Divine Beast Suzaku.
Before his eyes were the smiles of his three comrades. The small-
build miko Ardor Maiden, who stood at the right end, had probably also already recovered with Chiyuri’s special technique gauge; she was extending out her restored left and right arms straight out before her.
The three people consisting of Haruyuki and company advanced one step, two steps, and then three steps, and left the bridge.
“Welcome back.”
Kuroyukihime, Fuuko, and Haruyuki replied with voices in unison. “…We’re back.”
And then they finally took another step forward—.
Haruyuki and Takumu. Kuroyukihime and Chiyuri. And then Fuuko and Utai hugged each other with all their strength. At the same time, from the skies overhead, at the «altar» in the distance a pillar of red light towered, was absorbed into the ground in that state, and disappeared.
At this instant, the «Ardor Maiden rescue operation» as well as the
«Imperial Palace escape operation» by all hands of the black legion, Nega Nebulas, ended completely.
Chapter 11
At the same time his Over-Ray disappeared, Haruyuki’s wings returned to their original metallic fins. They were folded automatically and were stored in the interior of a cover-shaped protuberance. After softly casting words of gratitude in the back of his mind to his twin wings, Haruyuki looked at the faces of his comrade anew in order.
As if they had seen through Haruyuki crying on the inside of his mirror surface visor, all of them were laughing kindly with smiles. However, just now it seemed that there was no need to look down to hide his embarrassment. The reason was that the existence of the miko smiling in front of him was the realization of an indescribably huge miracle.
That was right. The «world-destroying conflagration miko» Ardor Maiden, who had been sealed at the south gate of the Imperial Palace in the Unlimited Neutral Field over a period of two years, had been released at last now. At this rate, if they moved a mere hundred meters south and passed through the portal established in the inner court of the triangular building—the real-world Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, Utai would be able to return to the real world normally together with her own alter ego.
“…You’ve done it, Haru.”
The one who had said that anew with a smile was Lime Bell—Chiyuri. Gazing at her eye lenses, which were filled with transparent drops, with an effort Haruyuki returned some words.
“Unh. —Thank you, Chiyu. Thank you, everyone…”
That moment, he seemed about to have the power drain straight out from his legs and sink to the floor there, but hurriedly he replanted his feet. It was too early to feel exhausted. There still remained one, no, two things he needed to do.
First, the purification of the «Disaster Armor» dwelling within Haruyuki. If they succeeded in that, the fear of being designated with a bounty by the Six Kings would also disappear. At the same time, the repeating disaster cycle would also finally be cut off.
When the purification ended, the joint training with Sky Raker’s «child», Ash Roller, who desired to acquire the Incarnate system, was waiting next. He could not even imagine what kind of Mind Power Ash would embody, but no doubt with a showy technique he would cause everyone’s nerves to—…
“H, huh?”
Having thought that far then, Haruyuki finally noticed that the skull face of that end-of-century rider did not exist before his eyes. Shaking off the tears brimming in his eyes by blinking, he turned to Fuuko and asked.
“What’s happened to Ash-san? He met up in front of my apartment house in Suginami and came this far together with us, right? …Ah, surely he didn’t get cold feet from seeing Suzaku and run away or something…”
He had added the end of his sentence thirty percent in seriousness and seventy percent as a joke, but however Fuuko did not laugh. Far from that, she bit her lip, and a seemingly anxious tint rose up in her eye lenses.
“…About that, the truth is…we, we were not able to meet up with that child.”
“Eh…wh, what do you mean…?”
Ash Roller should have dived from Fuuko’s car parked in the underground parking lot of Haruyuki’s real-world apartment house. The horizontal-direction distance between them was nearly zero. It seemed easy to meet up in front of the building.
Takumu explained it to the bewildered Haruyuki in a reserved voice.
“About that, Haru. In front of the apartment house, there were only tire tracks seemingly left behind by Ash Roller’s bike; no matter how many dozens of minutes we waited, the person himself didn’t appear…”
“Tire tracks…? Then, did he move to the Imperial Palace by himself, unable to wait…and get lost on the path somewhere…?”
“No…that’s difficult to consider.”
This time, Fuuko lightly shook her head.
“That child should know the route from Suginami to the imperial residence well. The path of the Demonic City stage is also easy to understand; it seems unlikely that Ash got lost.”
“Besides that, Haruyuki-kun. We tentatively did try to follow the tire tracks as much as we could, but it seemed that they kept going south from the apartment house.”
Kuroyukihime murmured that while crossing the swords of her arms before her chest. True enough, that was out of the ordinary. If one were to head for the imperial residence from Suginami, then even if one went south one would have to turn to the east soon.
Suddenly—.
An apprehension that seemed to block his breathing assaulted Haruyuki.
Ash Roller did have his whimsical points, but he was not the guy to stand someone up. In the first place, his master and parent Sky Raker was also included among the people he had arranged to meet. Even if he saw small-class enemies that seemed easy to defeat from afar, it was unthinkable that he would do something like chase after them with his bike.
In that case—«something» had happened. Probably, while standing by in the underground parking lot. Due to a situation so urgent he could not even wait to join up with Fuuko and the others, Ash had run south. And then, there a further something had occurred.
Also, two and a half hours had already elapsed since Haruyuki and company had dived into the Unlimited Neutral Field. And then if Ash had dived a mere minute earlier than the appointed seven o’clock in the evening, it would amount to a calculation of him having already spent ten-odd hours in this world.
“Uh, um…I’m, going to look for him!”
Driven on by an ineffable unease, Haruyuki again widened the metal wings on his back. Using his special technique gauge, which had been charged again during his battle in space with Suzaku, he lightly floated up.
“Haruyuki-kun, operating solo is dangerous! If we’re to search, then together with everyone…”
“I’ll be fine, if I find something I’ll return! Senpai, you and the others, please wait in front of the Metropolitan Police Department’s portal!”
Interrupting the words of Kuroyukihime, who had tried to curb him, Haruyuki took an even higher altitude.
“…Haru, if you don’t return after we’ve waited for an hour, we’ll pull the cable on the other side!”
While giving a forced laugh at Chiyuri’s words, Haruyuki nodded, shouted just “Understood, I’ll leave it to you!”, and rose to a greater altitude in one go.
Presuming that Ash Roller had headed south from Koenji, he should be southwest of the Imperial Palace. From about fifty meters from the ground, he tried to strain his eyes, but there were many tall buildings in the Demonic City stage, and he could not see through. While raising his altitude further, he began to move slowly.
From the south of the Imperial Palace, basically Kasumigaseki, Haruyuki moved in a straight line to Akasaka and Aoyama. While flying, he scanned with all his might, but all that moved were small~medium-sized enemies. He thought about interrogating enemy hunting parties if there were any, but perhaps due to the fact that it was a weekday night, not a single sound of combat reached him.
Even if he strained his ears, he could only hear the sound of the wind blowing across the stage. However, that stillness further stirred Haruyuki’s anxiety. Although he was flying at the bare minimum energy-conserving speed, moment by moment his special technique gauge decreased. And being able to use his new Incarnate technique that had just spiritually awakened a while ago, «Light Speed», was very unlikely in this state of mind.
“…Guess it can’t be helped…”
Resolving himself, Haruyuki ran the risk of being discovered by hostile existences on the ground and raised his altitude. Before he was aware of it, he had reached Harajuku. Ahead here was already Yoyogi Park[41], and south of that was Shibuya.
And then—at that moment.
Smack-dab in the middle of the wide intersection where Meiji-dori[42] and Inokashira-dori crossed, he had the feeling that something had gleamed with a flicker. Even if he looked down again, there were neither Burst Linkers nor enemies, but just in case he opted to try descending.
Haruyuki, who had landed on the blue-black surface of the road while being cautious about his surroundings, reached his hand down to his feet and picked up the thing that seemed to be the source of the reflected light.
At first glance, it was an unidentifiable object. There was an orange hemisphere-shaped clear lens fit in the silver disk about four centimeters in diameter. There was a thin rod extending from the side of the disk, but it seemed to be snapped halfway.
“…What the heck is this…”
He murmured and twirled the mysterious part in his hand; it reflected the faint sunlight of the Demonic City stage and flickered periodically in an orange color.
That moment—Haruyuki noticed it.
This was a bike winker. To be precise, it was the very winker part that Ash Roller had made blink in order to pull a feint on Haruyuki in their duel conducted this morning on the Loop 7 road.
In the Unlimited Neutral Field, objects missing from Enhanced Armaments remained for a fairly long time compared with those in the normal duel field. Some accident had probably happened when Ash Roller’s bike was passing by here, and the blinker had been damaged. Looking around at his surroundings again with that conviction, he discovered some damage tracks burnt black on the surface of the walls of the buildings lined up along the south side of the road.
The orientation of the attacks was from north to south. Basically, Ash had driven from Loop 7 to this place via Inokashira-dori, at that point had been attacked by someone, and had turned south at the intersection…?
Still gripping the winker part, Haruyuki kicked the ground and flew up. The level of the dread filling his heart had already reached the area around his throat.
At the bare speed such that his gauge did not decrease steeply, he flew south along Meiji-dori. In doing so, in a mere two twenty seconds the next fallen object caught his eye. He descended to the ground and made sure of it.
There was no longer the need to be perplexed about what that was. A hub and rim fixed in place with a thin spoke. In its vicinity, a gray, thick rubber wheel. It was a bike tire. From its width, it was the front wheel.
The same black traces of attack as those he had seen a while ago were concentrated on the surrounding ground. It seemed that here the bike had taken big damage, its front wheel had fallen out, and its experienced
rider had headed south furthermore with a wheelie. However, that trick play would not continue forever.
“…Ash-san…!”
Haruyuki let out a hoarse voice and looked out to the far side of the road that extended south.
A faint sound of impact rocked the air at that time.
The surface of the walls of a mass of buildings about a hundred meters ahead shone in a flickering green color. The hard sound and the brilliance were not the explosion of an object or an attack effect. It was the death effect of a duel avatar.
“……!!”
Haruyuki, who had reflexively begun to run, switched to flying midway. He flew over the roof of the buildings and took a shortcut past the road, which gently curved left. The instant the road in the neighborhood of Miyashita Park[43] in the Shibuya ward entered his field of vision, a profound shiver assaulted Haruyuki’s entire body. His wings stiffened and arbitrarily hovered about twenty meters high in the sky.
What his eyes caught straight away was the mercilessly destroyed object whose tire, engine, frame, and muffler were strewn about that previously used to be a metallic gray American bike.
A bit ahead from there, six Burst Linkers were standing in a ring. Of course, there were not any with whom he was friendly; there were hardly
even any whose names he knew. What was common to the six was that thin auras of darkness were rising from their whole bodies. The Over-Rays of Mind Power. The sources of their energy were—the «eyes» glittering red like blood in the center of their chests. The «ISS Kits».
And then, in the center of the six people lined up in a circle was a single Burst Linker who had curled his body up and was cowering.
A sleek leather rider suit. Gaudy protectors on his shoulders and knees. And on his head, a full-face helmet equipped with a shield that imitated a skull—.
“Ash, san…?”
Haruyuki squeezed out a voice unlike one from his chest.
Deep scars were carved lengthwise and crosswise into Ash Roller’s whole body. However, why he was not trying to move was not because of the damage he had received. He was trying to protect the small light floating above the road with his avatar’s whole body as a shield.
That point of light, which flickered grass green, was the «marker» left at the spot where Burst Linkers died in the Unlimited Neutral Field. It was probably the owner of the death effect Haruyuki had felt a mere number of dozens of seconds ago. He recognized the hue of the light. That was— Ash’s friend who was like a younger brother to him, «Bush Utan», without a doubt.
In a moment, Haruyuki intuitively realized what had happened here while he and Utai were fighting hard to escape the Imperial Palace.
It was probably like this.
Ash Roller, who had been waiting for their dive time of seven in the evening inside the car parked in the underground of the real-world apartment house, had participated in the gallery of someone’s duel while standing by. In that stage, he had run across Bush Utan, who was either a duelist or likewise a spectator. There, he had persuaded Utan and instructed him to meet up at the same time in the Unlimited Neutral Field. In order for him to convey something that needed to be conveyed to Utan as his big brother.
That rendezvous place was probably in the direction of Shibuya. For that reason, before joining the four members of Nega Nebulas at seven in the evening sharp in front of the apartment house, he had dived early and headed for Shibuya to bring Utan along.
However, the place and time had somewhere—probably in the duel field where he was part of the gallery been leaked to one of the equippers of the ISS Kit. They had lain in ambush in front of the Meiji Shrine in order to hunt Ash and Utan as prey. Ash, who had taken a surprise attack from an Incarnate technique of darkness, had gotten away this far with all his might even while his bike was receiving damage, but in the end his beloved bike had been destroyed. No, that was not all. If he had dived into this world slightly earlier than seven o’clock in the evening, then
Haruyuki guessed that over ten hours had already elapsed. Basically— undoubtedly, at this place he along with Bush Utan had died and been resurrected repeatedly no few number of times.
In the Unlimited Neutral Field, Enhanced Armaments that had been completely lost once did not regenerate unless one carried out a relogin[44] into the field. Even if Ash Roller lost all his health gauge, died, and respawned one hour later, the American bike in which he had invested nearly all his potential as a duel avatar would not be brought back.
In short, the Burst Linkers standing in that place had surrounded Ash Roller, who had lost practically all his combat ability, with six men and furthermore were tormenting him to death with the strength of the Mind Power of darkness the ISS Kit produced.
Again and again. Again and again. Again and again and again and again—…
“W...a, ah…”
From the throat of Haruyuki, who was hovering, a husky voice leaked out.
Without the sign of even noticing that, one of the six walked up to Ash Roller, who was crouching on the road surface. His middle-class form was rather unremarkable, but there was a slight sense of volume in his hands. Haruyuki also had the feeling that he had caught sight of him somewhere, but he could not remember his name.
“Next…it’s my turn right. I wonder…does he still have points remaining?”
The avatar who had lazily put that into words clutched Ash’s helmet with his large right hand from which a dusky aura was being discharged. A dull crack! sound reverberated, and his trademark scarface was splintered into smithereens.
The aggressor seized anew the exposed neck of the duel avatar who gave off a delicate impression considering his character and who in some respects seemed like a young boy.
With all his strength, he dragged Ash Roller, who was still trying to defend Utan’s marker light, up from the road. The eyes of Ash, who had been forced to face upward, sighted Haruyuki, who had frozen on the roof of a building.
His pale green eye lenses opened wide for an instant—following that, they seemed as if they were weakly laughing. In Haruyuki’s consciousness, his normally reckless and boisterous voice reverberated in a manner that tended to cut off.
…Heh heh…I made, a blunder. My bad, Crow…I made the feelings of you and Master…go to wast…
Glug. That blunt sound resounded; the assailant’s left arm had deeply penetrated the middle of Ash’s chest.
A pillar of gray light towered, and the thin avatar burst and scattered, rider suit and all.
While being showered in his scattered fragments, the attacker, perhaps looking at his own Install menu, slightly tilted his head and spoke.
“Oh, with one more time I’ll be able to level up. It’d be nice if he remained till my next turn, huh.”
Haruyuki’s whole body trembled so strongly that it seemed as if it would disintegrate. His limbs, tense to their limit, creaked with a grinding sound, and underneath his helmet his teeth rang repeatedly. The voice that leaked out from his throat had collapsed and was cracked in a tone so low to the extent where he himself had never heard it.
“Ah…a, a, aaah…AAAAH…”
From head to foot, it seemed as if he were filled with liquid of quite a low temperature. No, it might have even been the super-intense heat of melted iron. At the very least, it was unmistakable that a vast emotion had been compressed and was running through his entire body in place of blood.
Rage.
Anger. A fury so great it made his view red hot. Blackish hatred. And then the impetus to destroy.
“AH…AA, A, AAAAH…!”
Shiing.
That sharp metallic sound rang out from Haruyuki’s hands. Silver Crow’s slender ten fingers had sharpened, curved, and been enlarged like the claws of a bird of prey. At the same time, his armor color changed too. From a shining mirror silver to a chrome silver like a shadow.
…You mustn’t!
…You mustn’t entrust yourself to that emotion! You will disappear…!
Someone had shouted far away, very far away. However, that faint voice no longer reached Haruyuki’s consciousness.
The metallic sound did not stop; Haruyuki’s two arms were covered in chrome supplementary armor. Both his legs too. That form, whose edges were so effective they were atrocious, was far more sinister and looked more like that of a demon than when it had previously materialized at Hermes Cord.
Instead of the girl’s voice, a voice distorted by a metallic quality resounded throughout his mind.
—I am thee. Thou art me.
—Passing through a time of eternity, now at last have I been resurrected. I am «disaster». I am «demise». I be the one who makes the sound of the bell of the end ring out to the world.
It was exactly the same as the voice he had heard after school today in the real-world Umesato Middle rear garden, but different from that time he felt no pain whatsoever. Basically, this was not negative Mind Power’s
«overflow». Haruyuki himself had called that awake and had yearned to fuse with it.
At the same its voice rang, Haryuki called its name.
——My name is—— “……«Chrome Disaster»——!!”
That yell, which had ferociously surged forth, was the very howl of a beast that hungered for blood and desired massacre. Purple system font traversed the upper left hand of his field of vision from left to right like a flash of lightning in one go.
【YOU EQUIPPED AN ENHANCED ARMAMENT «THE DISASTER»】
While releasing a violent metallic sound, armor resembling a demon’s fangs heavily covered him from his stomach to his breast. A sharp tail lengthened out in a slithery way from his back, and his two wings changed into a silhouette like some sort of weapon.
A visor in the imitation of the jaw of a beast swallowed up his smoothly round helmet from the top and bottom without leaving a gap. His view was wrapped up in a thin gray additional layer.
In the skies overhead, the dark clouds of the Demonic City stage were making an enormous whirlpool. From its center, a jet-black thunderbolt poured down together with a thunderous roar. Haruyuki received that with his outstretched right hand.
The thunderbolt stayed in his hand as it was, changed shape, and produced an object. A long sword possessing a hilt that shone black and a blade that was fiercely sharpened. A high ranking Enhanced Armament called by the name of «Star Caster» in the distant past.
That very thing was the binary star of destiny that twinkled in a bewitching manner and nestled close to the side of the sixth star
«Kaiyou», alias the original of the Disaster Armor, the Divine Weapon
«The Destiny». The eighth star of the Big Dipper—. Brandishing the cursed sword high, Haruyuki howled. “GR…AAAAAAAH!!”
That war cry was filled with rage and hatred, but as if weeping in some way, it resounded throughout the sky of the Accelerated World.
(To be continued)
Author’s Notes
I am Kawahara Reki. Thank you for having read Accel World 8: Binary Star of Destiny.
In this volume, the ambiguous term «image power» became a key word; since I believe there are some readers for whom it just doesn’t strike home, allow me to borrow this occasion to make a slight supplement.
I believe that the power of one’s image, the thing called imagination, is the greatest ability that humans possess. The reason is that the power to imagine is the sole thing that is not «output in opposition to input» but output that the human consciousness can produce from zero.
Although it seems like one won’t understand it right away (laughs), the point is, maybe the thing called the power to imagine isn’t confined to the specialized fields of the arts, literature, science, and sports but is very important and valid even in our daily lives repeated every day. For instance, anyone who lives has lots of enjoyable things and other painful things, difficult things. I believe that perhaps in first thinking of a way to cope with them after confronting them, imagining them before the fact, and preparing to accept them, the energy required or even the result also changes.
After rising every morning, while checking that day’s plans one by one, I do things in a way such that in the case I have disagreeable things or tedious things I imagine how to manage them. Whether that’s actually
helping or not is not too certain (laughs), but nevertheless when one begins to actually take action, one can feel that one’s resolution has been decided just a little bit. Today, after this at the dentist’s my teeth will be polished, so I will imagine the bzzz feeling with all my might!
In addition to that, in this volume Haruyuki-kun was able to do his best in the basketball match due to his image power, but even though there was some exaggeration in that, I believe it’s not a downright lie either. I’m also a person who’s super-poor at exercising, but when I’m putting out the speed of my limit on my bicycle, the time that I can keep going greatly differs in whether I imagine my breathing and pedaling or not.
Though I won’t be exercising the Incarnate system and be putting out 60 km/h. For now. …In the end, it seems that this has become an essay where one can’t understand what’s what (laughs), but if you please, everyone, please also try imagining various things! Oh, and my apologies for letting the story continue on again! Next time for sure it’ll absolutely end! Really!
To my editor Miki-san (former basketball club member) and illustrator HIMA-san, I’m sorry to have caused you trouble in having my manuscript be overdue this time as well! And then all my readers, although the times are rough, while imagining the future let us try our hardest together!
2011 April 14th, Kawahara Reki
Haruyuki was assailed by a momentary conflict; at that time. From below his path, a sharp hail reached him.
“Haru!!”
Taken aback, he turned his eyes there. The one greatly raising his left hand at a spot about two hundred meters from the foot of the bridge was a large-class avatar who had heavy light-blue armor, Cyan Pile. And then next to him was a yellow-green lightweight avatar, Lime Bell.
“Haru—!!”
Bell also shouted in a voice with all her might and greatly revolved the large bell equipped in her left hand. At the same time that an airy chime sound rang out, the bell was enveloped in a light effect of a fresh green color.
“—«Citron Ca—ll»!!”
Together with the enunciation of her technique name, she swung her hand bell straight down. The lime green light that effused out warmly wrapped up Haruyuki, who was in the middle of flight.
The damage received from the duels versus enemies inside the Imperial Palace and Suzaku’s heat wave from just a little bit earlier was healed in a twinkle. However, the wounds of Utai, who was still unconscious in his arms, remained as they were. Citron Call’s effect target was a single body, so it could not have two people recover simultaneously, but then in that
case should she not have healed Ardor Maiden first, whose damage was great?
For an instant, Haruyuki had difficulty grasping the intention of Chiyuri, who was restoring Silver Crow’s health gauge here and now. However, the shouting voice that Takumu subsequently emitted dispelled Haruyuki’s bewilderment.
“Haru, leave Maiden-san to us!” “…!!”
Haruyuki opened his eyes wide—right after, without hesitating he passed the body of Ardor Maiden, who was in his arms, to the outstretched arms of Cyan Pile below. Elevating his body, which had become light, in one go, he entered a loop turn with a tight radius. Piercing through the air howling in his ears, Chiyuri’s voice reached him.
“Haru, Senpai and Nee-san…!” “—Got it, leave it to me!!”
Haruyuki’s two childhood friends had hesitated, suffered, and decided it in his stead. That they would not let Kuroyukihime and Fuuko die here. That by all costs, they would go home with everyone together.
Backed by Takumu and Chiyuri’s emotions, Haruyuki soared again northward.
On his path, the Divine Beast Suzaku, who had likewise turned northward, was craning his long neck in the shape of an S and opening his beak wide. There were maybe five…no, three seconds till a super-intense heat breath would be released.
In front of his line of fire, Sky Raker, who was carrying Black Lotus on her back, descended, drawing out a parabola. Gale Thruster’s jet exhaust flickered irregularly and was on the verge of disappearing. That Enhanced Armament displayed overwhelming thrust, but once it used up its energy, there was a long recharge time that was imposed till the next time one could fly. There were no longer any means for the two to escape from Suzaku’s flames. From his vast bill, a glimmering orange light spilled out. The surrounding atmosphere became a heat haze and shimmered—.
—I won’t…let you do that!! “Wh…oooooooooa—!!”
With a force that burnt up all his remaining special technique gauge, Haruyuki caused the metallic fins on his back to vibrate. A faint light surrounded Silver Crow’s whole body. Penetrating the wall of wind pressure with the fingertips of his sharply extended hands, his avatar became a lance and soared.
Suzaku, whose right eye had been smashed by Kuroyukihime’s crushing blow, did not notice Haruyuki approaching from that side. Haruyuki plunged forth on a course that nearly grazed the large bird’s visage. He passed a couple dozen centimeters by the right side of his beak, which
was trying to spit out a conflagration at that very moment. In one stretch, he sprung out to the enemy’s front.
At his back, overwhelming waves of indignation toward him, the obstacle, were produced.
In front, the two Burst Linkers opened their eyes wide in shock. “Why…!?”
“Haruyuki-kun…!!”
With a momentum that made him nearly crash into them, under both arms Haruyuki carried the bodies of the two, who were trying to shout as if gasping. He held the slender waists of Sky Raker and Black Lotus, who were nearly equal size-wise, with all his strength, and in one gulp he changed his flight direction upward.
Their situation fairly resembled that of the «Ardor Maiden rescue strategy» the day before yesterday, where he had picked up Utai, who had appeared in the center of the altar, from the south. However, one thing that was different was that unlike Utai, who was on the ground, Kuroyukihime and Fuuko were still maintaining an approximate elevation of twenty meters. From here, they still had the leeway to change their direction toward their sole escape route—namely, straight up.
Abruptly, their surroundings were stained a deep crimson. Suzaku had fired his flame breath at last. An overwhelming torrent of heat-attribute
damage was imminent; if they took that hit directly, no matter what kind of Burst Linkers they were they would not elude evaporation.
“G…rrr…”
Clenching his teeth and bearing it, Haruyuki soared vertically with all the power he had.
Tch; the tips of his toes had grazed something. In one gulp, over a tenth of his health gauge was scraped away. He had probably touched not the main body of the breath but its surrounding damage zone, but he did not look down. He only glared at the cloudy blue-black sky of the
«Demonic City» stage and flew.
Even the slightest deviation from his path would not be tolerated. The reason was that super-gravity had been set on the left and right of the large bridge, which was a flight-prohibited zone, and invisible barriers extended infinitely along the gate of the Imperial Palace as well as the sky above the castle walls. The instant he touched those, his flight would be impeded, and they would fall.
What was permitted was only perfectly vertical ascension. He would fly straight up as far as he could fly, cutting off Suzaku’s target. After that, he would draw a large arc due south, fall down, and escape to the south side of the large bridge—.
Passing through the wind that howled like a dog, Kuroyukihime’s whisper resounded at his right ear’s side.
“…Good grief, you really…”
Following that, at his left ear was Fuuko’s suppressed laugh. “Fufu.., somehow, I had the feeling it would turn out like this.” “I’m sorry…after we return, I will fully apologize!”
Answering like that in the same manner as that of the day before yesterday, Haruyuki made the silver wings on his back quiver even more—
“Ah…!”
The one who had shouted was Fuuko. Feeling that something was abnormal, this time Haruyuki reflexively looked down.
The figure of the huge bird clad in flames could be seen to be surprisingly near. However, why. Though they had already reached an altitude near three hundred meters.
Basically—he had chased after them. The Divine Beast Suzaku, the protector beast who supposedly would not leave the south large bridge, its territory, was also ascending himself and was tailing Haruyuki and company.
The one remaining left eye of the enemy was narrowed as if sneering at them. Inside Haruyuki’s mind, a grave voice reverberated.
—Foolish.
—You cannot escape from my twin wings with those sham wings.
At the same time, Suzaku violently rang his wings, which were extended out twenty meters from side to side. His massive frame steadily accelerated, and the distance between them shortened.
“Kk…!”
Glaring straight up again, Haruyuki tried to raise his speed further. However, immediately after, he noticed a terrible truth.
His special technique gauge, which was supposed to have been fully charged when he had taken off inside the Imperial Palace, was already beginning to be depleted. However, if he thought about it that too was obvious. He had continued to fly all-out carrying first Utai, then Kuroyukihime and Fuuko; even if his gauge were consumed at a pace even several times faster than that of when he flew solo, it wouldn’t be odd.
—However, if his thrust were lost here, they would rapidly be burnt by Suzaku’s flames, and the three of them would die all together. And then their respawn point was directly under, basically the altar before the Imperial Palace’s south gate. Without a doubt, all of them would fall into the state of infinite EK.
While fixing his eyes on his special technique gauge, which was vanishing at a fearsome speed dot by dot, with a momentary thought Haruyuki examined all the action options he had.
Letting just Kuroyukihime and Fuuko escape? —Impossible. If they fell from this height, they would die instantly from the fall damage, and before that they would be killed by Suzaku, who was chasing them from directly below.
Escape south right now with a loop turn? —Impossible. In a state of being targeted by Suzaku, even if they turned, before they managed to reach the surface they would just take a direct breath blow.
Having the two of them attack Silver Crow on purpose and having his special technique gauge charged again? —Impossible. If their speed slackened even slightly when he received damage, they would rapidly be seized by Suzaku’s attack range.
They could only fly.
Even if his gauge were exhausted. Even if it was proclaimed that in the Brain Burst program, flight greater than this was not permitted. He would fly, destroying the system’s limits with the power of imagination and overwrite the phenomenon of inability to fly.
Image. A true image of «soaring».
The sole and greatest power conferred to the duel avatar «Silver Crow» of
«flight ability» had, in the Accelerated World, taken the shape of the emotional trauma that Haruyuki had always continued to carry.
His trauma was, namely, the feeling of wanting to run away. Cutting himself loose from the ground, which was full of things he detested, and
wanting to go a place that was high to the ends of the world, far to the ends of the world. Wanting to go to a world that shook off anything and everything and where only the speed of light existed. And then, wanting to forget everything.
However—.
At present, Haruyuki was questioning whether that was really «flying».
There was no bird that could continue to fly forever. They all ate, slept, and accumulated strength in order to fly for a while. Living to fly. Flying to live. Those two were one and were inseparable.
If so, even without wings at their backs, people in the real world too could definitely fly. Carrying what they were aiming for and what they wanted to overcome in their hearts, forming an image of those things’ realization, and advancing one step, one step at a time. Not facing downward and being swept along from day to day while harboring discontent but looking fixedly at the sky—the place they wanted to reach someday, and actively stepping forth. When they could do that, people would undoubtedly make their invisible wings flutter and would fly.
“…Fly…!”
While staring with all his heart at the sky of the Unlimited Neutral Field swirling with dark clouds, Haruyuki yelled briefly.
Not causing his propulsion-use objects, his so-called metallic fins, to vibrate due to numerical energy, his so-to-speak special technique gauge—.
Making the wings produced from his own heart beat due to the power of his image and flying.
In the past, at the apex of the Old Tokyo Tower, Fuuko, who had first initiated Haruyuki into the Incarnate system, had said it. That “If it’s you, then one day you may become able to fly in the sky with Mind Power alone. However, it will take an unbelievably long time for that.”
As both a Burst Linker and a user of Mind Power, Haruyuki was still a fledgling. Neither his training nor his experience was sufficient at all.
However, if he were to fly, then it was now. If he were unable to fly now, then for what purpose had he been born crowned with the name of
«Silver Crow»[38]?
Imagine. Imagine. The meaning of flying. The meaning of kicking the ground and aiming for the sky.
In Haruyuki’s vision, the phantom of a small scops owl flapping its white wings and soaring twinkled.
“—Fly, Crow!!”
At his right side, Kuroyukihime. “Fly, Karasu-san!!”
At his left side, Fuuko shouted.
They all melted together into one silver imagination, ran through Haruyuki’s body, and cohered at both his shoulder blades. And then, with the eyes in his heart, Haruyuki watched them. The ten metal fins extending from Silver Crow’s back sparkling dazzlingly, changing shape, and being overwritten into genuine «wings» resembling those of birds of prey.
“Wh…o…ooooooa—!!”
At the same time Haruyuki bellowed, the last dot of his special technique gauge ran out. However, the thrust accelerating his entire body toward the sky did not disappear.
Flapping his wings, which were shining in a glaring silver color, with all the power he had, Haruyuki sonorously intoned the name of a new Incarnate technique welling up from the depths of his heart.
“—«Light…Speed[39]»—!!”
Pah…his entire vision was surrounded in a silver resplendence. He approached the phantom of the scops owl flying slightly ahead, touched it, and assimilated with it. While carrying two duel avatars, with a fearsome acceleration he had not experienced before Haruyuki soared. The thick clouds of the «Demonic City» stager drew rapidly near, and with a slight feeling of resistance he rushed into them.
The landscape was lost and was blotted out into a monochromatic deep gray. However, immediately a crimson light shone from below. Suzaku was pursuing them even further. The enemy’s ascension speed was also clearly increasing. The two bodies of contrasting size in flight vertically pierced the sky of the Accelerated World while drawing silver and crimson paths—.
A number of seconds later, suddenly his view became clear.
An unbounded sky tinged azure that seemed to absorb them. Below, a pure white sea of clouds that stretched out to the ends of the world. He could no longer even imagine how many hundreds, no, thousands of meters high their altitude was. However, Haruyuki flapped his silver wings still more powerfully.
With a sound of impact like a bo, a vast hole was opened in the sea of clouds below. From its depths, what appeared was a giant bird clad in flames that blazed a still greater bright red. Filling one eye to the brim with the volition of burning the trespassers who had twice invaded his territory to ashes by any means, the Divine Beast Suzaku plunged forth at almost the same speed as Haruyuki, who was flying with the power of Mind Power.
—As you desire…follow me if you can!!
Roaring inside his mind, Haruyuki squeezed out all the imagination that he had and beat his silver wings.
The tint of his surroundings gradually changed. From azure to ultramarine, and then to black. Beyond, a number of miniscule points of light flickered. They were stars.
Furthermore, he noticed narrow silver threads glittering vertically in a space separated far from him to his front right. That was—the «Hermes Cord». It was the low-orbit-class space elevator that went around at a super-high altitude in the Accelerated World. It was probably just traveling in the Tokyo vicinity.
Before long, his ascension speed gradually began to become dull. Haruyuki’s Mind Power had not weakened. It was not that; they had reached the limiting altitude of his «wings».
As much as he tried to override things with his imagination, as long as the propulsion engine extending from Haruyuki’s back was wings, he could not fly without air. That was right—here was already nearly outer space.
The deep crimson brilliance below them hot on their heels sharply weakened. At the same time, a roar filled with rage from the great bird swayed the very thin air.
While stopping the beating of his wings and ascending leisurely with only inertia, Haruyuki looked down. The flames covering at all times the entire body of the Divine Beast Suzaku, who had closely tailed the three of them up to here, had nearly disappeared. It was because the surrounding
oxygen was quite thin. His feathers, which had become exposed and were a glossy red, were covered in white frost from their tips—.
“—Now’s our chance!”
All of a sudden, Kuroyukihime had shouted. “Crow, let go! Raker, you can fly right!?”
Haruyuki reflexively opened up his arms, and in the world that had nearly no gravity, the jet black and light blue avatars drifted lightly. Fuuko nodded firmly, and turned her back to Kuroyukihime.
“Of course, Lotus!” “All right!”
Black Lotus securely held Sky Raker’s back with her legs. With a turn, Raker changed the orientation of her body and lit a blue light at the nozzle of the Enhanced Armament that was recharged to the extent where there was an energy gauge.
“—Let’s go!!”
Briefly announcing that, Fuuko unhesitatingly opened her booster full throttle.
While trailing blue-white flames, the two integrated avatars aimed at the Divine Beast who was cruising below and charged fiercely. Different from Haruyuki’s wings, the «Gale Thruster» that Sky Raker possessed was an
energy-jet-type propulsion engine. Only she could fly even in space, where there was no atmosphere.
While the Divine Beast Suzaku caused his left eye to burn with a dreadful rage, he widened both his half-frozen wings and tried to engage the two. However, however much he flapped his wings his massive frame hardly moved. Giving up on advancing forward, he opened his beak and tried to emit a flame breath, but even preheating it seemed to take more time than on the ground.
“Too slow!!”
Kuroyukihime gave a cry, opened the swords of her two arms wide at Fuuko’s back, and in that state drew them tight backward in the shape of the letter V. It was a motion Haruyuki was seeing for the first time. Her twin swords were enveloped in a white-blue splendor that reminded him of fixed stars.
“HA…AAAAA…!”
A relentless shout of vigor poured forth, and her arms’ aura focused at several points of light. They were eight apiece in number left and right; in total, sixteen. Accompanied by the confluence of light that was just like an enormous constellation, Kuroyukihime made her voice, which seemed to reach the ends of the universe, resound in a dignified manner.
“«Starburst…Stream[40]»—!!”
Her two swords struck alternately at a speed so great his eyes did not catch them. With each blow, a «star» that shone blue-white was fired one at a time, became a meteor, and directly hit Suzaku, who was far in the distance. Each time, a tremendous impact boomed and rocked Haruyuki’s body.
At the meteors, which had ridden even Sky Raker’s super-accelerated energy, were fired into him one after another, even the Divine Beast Suzaku had to strew about a shrill scream. From the huge body of the enemy who had lost his armor of flames, bright red feathers and damage scattered in huge quantities. Suzaku’s health gauge, which was also displayed in Haruyuki’s vision and reached five levels, was being whittled away at a momentum that made him doubt his eyes.
“HI…YAAAAA!!”
Without ceasing, Kuroyukihime’s twin swords flashed and fired forth the meteors her Mind Power had produced like a rapid-fire gun. Ten hits.
Eleven hits. A number of huge holes had already been drilled through both of Suzaku’s wings, and his torso and tail were also being torn up here and there. However, the flames of indignation smoldering in his left eye did not vanish. Even while receiving enormous damage, he opened his bill wide and forcibly tried to discharge a flame breath.
“—Ohhh!”
Haruyuki also reflexively roared and drew his right hand tight. He scraped an image of light together from his whole body, condensed it at a single point, changed it into a lance of light—and released it.
“«Laser Lance»!!”
The lance, which had become a streak of light and had run through the cosmos, overtook Kuroyukihime from the right side and hit Suzaku’s left eye without straying from its mark.
The breath’s flames, on the verge of being released, wavered, and in the momentary chance that was born, Kuroyukihime fired the final—the sixteenth star with an ear-splitting roar. Its light, which soared through the heavens while trailing a tail resembling a comet, made a direct impact on Suzaku’s oral cavity and caused the super-intense heat energy of his flame breath to spontaneously discharge…
A red light stained his entire field of vision.
An awfully huge fireball that seemed like a second sun was born, and immediately after an overwhelming torrent of energy dispersed in all directions.
With his outstretched two hands, with all his might Haruyuki seized the bodies of Kuroyukihime and Fuuko, who had been pushed back by the shock wave. He again carried them tightly at his left and right, received the flow of energy with the wings at his back, and changed it to thrust. It was a phenomenon where it just seemed as if Suzaku himself had
exploded, but the last one of their enemy’s health gauges was still about halfway remaining. They should not approach him recklessly.
Haruyuki drew a great arc, circled around the fireball, and entered a course descending toward the surface of the earth.
The red light gradually faded, and the figure of the huge bird on the brink of death became exposed. His dignity of a «god» had already disappeared; he only weakly flapped his wings, which were wounded and were in pieces.
—If we’re to defeat him, how about now!?
For an instant, Haruyuki thought that. However, immediately after, a strange light wrapped up Suzaku’s massive body. A triple aura of white, blue, and black. As he wondered what on earth that was and opened his eyes wide, before him—a further superphenomenon occurred. Suzaku’s injuries were rapidly mended from their extremities. His health gauge, which had lost ninety percent of its total, also began to recover rapidly.
“…I surely hadn’t thought that the support of the other «Divine Beasts» would reach outer space…”
At Kuroyukihime’s whispering voice, he finally recalled something. The four super-class enemies guarding the gates of the four cardinal directions of the Imperial Palace were mutually linked. Even if they attacked one and dealt one damage, if the other three were not in the middle of fighting they would help the one infinitely recover with their support ability.
“Chasing him too far is useless, Karasu-san.”
In response to Fuuko’s words, Haruyuki nodded. Today’s objective was not to defeat Suzaku but to get out of his territory. Fluttering his two wings, which were still enveloped in a silver Over-Ray, he seized the thin air and switched over to vertical descent. The surrounding darkness shifted from darkness quickly to ultramarine and then to a clear azure.
Before long, they drew near the thick sea of clouds, and they dived in headfirst. Passing through the gray veil, they went toward the sky of the
«Demonic City» stage. Far below, the large castle enclosed by perfectly circular castle walls and the bridge extending straight out from its south gate were visible. Haruyuki sighted the figures of three small people greatly waving their hands at the south end of the bridge.
At a hundred meters in the sky overhead the large bridge, he changed the orientation of his body and transferred to a leisurely glide feetfirst. Prudently manipulating his wings such that they did not jut out to the left or right of the bridge, he aimed for the ground with the greatest speed possible. The tile pattern covering the surface of the large bridge floated up, and its resolution increased—
At last, the tiptoes of Haruyuki, Kuroyukihime, and Fuuko simultaneously touched the bridge’s surface.
That was the south tip of the large bridge, basically, a spot one meter from the boundary of the territory of the Divine Beast Suzaku.
Before his eyes were the smiles of his three comrades. The small-
build miko Ardor Maiden, who stood at the right end, had probably also already recovered with Chiyuri’s special technique gauge; she was extending out her restored left and right arms straight out before her.
The three people consisting of Haruyuki and company advanced one step, two steps, and then three steps, and left the bridge.
“Welcome back.”
Kuroyukihime, Fuuko, and Haruyuki replied with voices in unison. “…We’re back.”
And then they finally took another step forward—.
Haruyuki and Takumu. Kuroyukihime and Chiyuri. And then Fuuko and Utai hugged each other with all their strength. At the same time, from the skies overhead, at the «altar» in the distance a pillar of red light towered, was absorbed into the ground in that state, and disappeared.
At this instant, the «Ardor Maiden rescue operation» as well as the
«Imperial Palace escape operation» by all hands of the black legion, Nega Nebulas, ended completely.
Chapter 11
At the same time his Over-Ray disappeared, Haruyuki’s wings returned to their original metallic fins. They were folded automatically and were stored in the interior of a cover-shaped protuberance. After softly casting words of gratitude in the back of his mind to his twin wings, Haruyuki looked at the faces of his comrade anew in order.
As if they had seen through Haruyuki crying on the inside of his mirror surface visor, all of them were laughing kindly with smiles. However, just now it seemed that there was no need to look down to hide his embarrassment. The reason was that the existence of the miko smiling in front of him was the realization of an indescribably huge miracle.
That was right. The «world-destroying conflagration miko» Ardor Maiden, who had been sealed at the south gate of the Imperial Palace in the Unlimited Neutral Field over a period of two years, had been released at last now. At this rate, if they moved a mere hundred meters south and passed through the portal established in the inner court of the triangular building—the real-world Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, Utai would be able to return to the real world normally together with her own alter ego.
“…You’ve done it, Haru.”
The one who had said that anew with a smile was Lime Bell—Chiyuri. Gazing at her eye lenses, which were filled with transparent drops, with an effort Haruyuki returned some words.
“Unh. —Thank you, Chiyu. Thank you, everyone…”
That moment, he seemed about to have the power drain straight out from his legs and sink to the floor there, but hurriedly he replanted his feet. It was too early to feel exhausted. There still remained one, no, two things he needed to do.
First, the purification of the «Disaster Armor» dwelling within Haruyuki. If they succeeded in that, the fear of being designated with a bounty by the Six Kings would also disappear. At the same time, the repeating disaster cycle would also finally be cut off.
When the purification ended, the joint training with Sky Raker’s «child», Ash Roller, who desired to acquire the Incarnate system, was waiting next. He could not even imagine what kind of Mind Power Ash would embody, but no doubt with a showy technique he would cause everyone’s nerves to—…
“H, huh?”
Having thought that far then, Haruyuki finally noticed that the skull face of that end-of-century rider did not exist before his eyes. Shaking off the tears brimming in his eyes by blinking, he turned to Fuuko and asked.
“What’s happened to Ash-san? He met up in front of my apartment house in Suginami and came this far together with us, right? …Ah, surely he didn’t get cold feet from seeing Suzaku and run away or something…”
He had added the end of his sentence thirty percent in seriousness and seventy percent as a joke, but however Fuuko did not laugh. Far from that, she bit her lip, and a seemingly anxious tint rose up in her eye lenses.
“…About that, the truth is…we, we were not able to meet up with that child.”
“Eh…wh, what do you mean…?”
Ash Roller should have dived from Fuuko’s car parked in the underground parking lot of Haruyuki’s real-world apartment house. The horizontal-direction distance between them was nearly zero. It seemed easy to meet up in front of the building.
Takumu explained it to the bewildered Haruyuki in a reserved voice.
“About that, Haru. In front of the apartment house, there were only tire tracks seemingly left behind by Ash Roller’s bike; no matter how many dozens of minutes we waited, the person himself didn’t appear…”
“Tire tracks…? Then, did he move to the Imperial Palace by himself, unable to wait…and get lost on the path somewhere…?”
“No…that’s difficult to consider.”
This time, Fuuko lightly shook her head.
“That child should know the route from Suginami to the imperial residence well. The path of the Demonic City stage is also easy to understand; it seems unlikely that Ash got lost.”
“Besides that, Haruyuki-kun. We tentatively did try to follow the tire tracks as much as we could, but it seemed that they kept going south from the apartment house.”
Kuroyukihime murmured that while crossing the swords of her arms before her chest. True enough, that was out of the ordinary. If one were to head for the imperial residence from Suginami, then even if one went south one would have to turn to the east soon.
Suddenly—.
An apprehension that seemed to block his breathing assaulted Haruyuki.
Ash Roller did have his whimsical points, but he was not the guy to stand someone up. In the first place, his master and parent Sky Raker was also included among the people he had arranged to meet. Even if he saw small-class enemies that seemed easy to defeat from afar, it was unthinkable that he would do something like chase after them with his bike.
In that case—«something» had happened. Probably, while standing by in the underground parking lot. Due to a situation so urgent he could not even wait to join up with Fuuko and the others, Ash had run south. And then, there a further something had occurred.
Also, two and a half hours had already elapsed since Haruyuki and company had dived into the Unlimited Neutral Field. And then if Ash had dived a mere minute earlier than the appointed seven o’clock in the evening, it would amount to a calculation of him having already spent ten-odd hours in this world.
“Uh, um…I’m, going to look for him!”
Driven on by an ineffable unease, Haruyuki again widened the metal wings on his back. Using his special technique gauge, which had been charged again during his battle in space with Suzaku, he lightly floated up.
“Haruyuki-kun, operating solo is dangerous! If we’re to search, then together with everyone…”
“I’ll be fine, if I find something I’ll return! Senpai, you and the others, please wait in front of the Metropolitan Police Department’s portal!”
Interrupting the words of Kuroyukihime, who had tried to curb him, Haruyuki took an even higher altitude.
“…Haru, if you don’t return after we’ve waited for an hour, we’ll pull the cable on the other side!”
While giving a forced laugh at Chiyuri’s words, Haruyuki nodded, shouted just “Understood, I’ll leave it to you!”, and rose to a greater altitude in one go.
Presuming that Ash Roller had headed south from Koenji, he should be southwest of the Imperial Palace. From about fifty meters from the ground, he tried to strain his eyes, but there were many tall buildings in the Demonic City stage, and he could not see through. While raising his altitude further, he began to move slowly.
From the south of the Imperial Palace, basically Kasumigaseki, Haruyuki moved in a straight line to Akasaka and Aoyama. While flying, he scanned with all his might, but all that moved were small~medium-sized enemies. He thought about interrogating enemy hunting parties if there were any, but perhaps due to the fact that it was a weekday night, not a single sound of combat reached him.
Even if he strained his ears, he could only hear the sound of the wind blowing across the stage. However, that stillness further stirred Haruyuki’s anxiety. Although he was flying at the bare minimum energy-conserving speed, moment by moment his special technique gauge decreased. And being able to use his new Incarnate technique that had just spiritually awakened a while ago, «Light Speed», was very unlikely in this state of mind.
“…Guess it can’t be helped…”
Resolving himself, Haruyuki ran the risk of being discovered by hostile existences on the ground and raised his altitude. Before he was aware of it, he had reached Harajuku. Ahead here was already Yoyogi Park[41], and south of that was Shibuya.
And then—at that moment.
Smack-dab in the middle of the wide intersection where Meiji-dori[42] and Inokashira-dori crossed, he had the feeling that something had gleamed with a flicker. Even if he looked down again, there were neither Burst Linkers nor enemies, but just in case he opted to try descending.
Haruyuki, who had landed on the blue-black surface of the road while being cautious about his surroundings, reached his hand down to his feet and picked up the thing that seemed to be the source of the reflected light.
At first glance, it was an unidentifiable object. There was an orange hemisphere-shaped clear lens fit in the silver disk about four centimeters in diameter. There was a thin rod extending from the side of the disk, but it seemed to be snapped halfway.
“…What the heck is this…”
He murmured and twirled the mysterious part in his hand; it reflected the faint sunlight of the Demonic City stage and flickered periodically in an orange color.
That moment—Haruyuki noticed it.
This was a bike winker. To be precise, it was the very winker part that Ash Roller had made blink in order to pull a feint on Haruyuki in their duel conducted this morning on the Loop 7 road.
In the Unlimited Neutral Field, objects missing from Enhanced Armaments remained for a fairly long time compared with those in the normal duel field. Some accident had probably happened when Ash Roller’s bike was passing by here, and the blinker had been damaged. Looking around at his surroundings again with that conviction, he discovered some damage tracks burnt black on the surface of the walls of the buildings lined up along the south side of the road.
The orientation of the attacks was from north to south. Basically, Ash had driven from Loop 7 to this place via Inokashira-dori, at that point had been attacked by someone, and had turned south at the intersection…?
Still gripping the winker part, Haruyuki kicked the ground and flew up. The level of the dread filling his heart had already reached the area around his throat.
At the bare speed such that his gauge did not decrease steeply, he flew south along Meiji-dori. In doing so, in a mere two twenty seconds the next fallen object caught his eye. He descended to the ground and made sure of it.
There was no longer the need to be perplexed about what that was. A hub and rim fixed in place with a thin spoke. In its vicinity, a gray, thick rubber wheel. It was a bike tire. From its width, it was the front wheel.
The same black traces of attack as those he had seen a while ago were concentrated on the surrounding ground. It seemed that here the bike had taken big damage, its front wheel had fallen out, and its experienced
rider had headed south furthermore with a wheelie. However, that trick play would not continue forever.
“…Ash-san…!”
Haruyuki let out a hoarse voice and looked out to the far side of the road that extended south.
A faint sound of impact rocked the air at that time.
The surface of the walls of a mass of buildings about a hundred meters ahead shone in a flickering green color. The hard sound and the brilliance were not the explosion of an object or an attack effect. It was the death effect of a duel avatar.
“……!!”
Haruyuki, who had reflexively begun to run, switched to flying midway. He flew over the roof of the buildings and took a shortcut past the road, which gently curved left. The instant the road in the neighborhood of Miyashita Park[43] in the Shibuya ward entered his field of vision, a profound shiver assaulted Haruyuki’s entire body. His wings stiffened and arbitrarily hovered about twenty meters high in the sky.
What his eyes caught straight away was the mercilessly destroyed object whose tire, engine, frame, and muffler were strewn about that previously used to be a metallic gray American bike.
A bit ahead from there, six Burst Linkers were standing in a ring. Of course, there were not any with whom he was friendly; there were hardly
even any whose names he knew. What was common to the six was that thin auras of darkness were rising from their whole bodies. The Over-Rays of Mind Power. The sources of their energy were—the «eyes» glittering red like blood in the center of their chests. The «ISS Kits».
And then, in the center of the six people lined up in a circle was a single Burst Linker who had curled his body up and was cowering.
A sleek leather rider suit. Gaudy protectors on his shoulders and knees. And on his head, a full-face helmet equipped with a shield that imitated a skull—.
“Ash, san…?”
Haruyuki squeezed out a voice unlike one from his chest.
Deep scars were carved lengthwise and crosswise into Ash Roller’s whole body. However, why he was not trying to move was not because of the damage he had received. He was trying to protect the small light floating above the road with his avatar’s whole body as a shield.
That point of light, which flickered grass green, was the «marker» left at the spot where Burst Linkers died in the Unlimited Neutral Field. It was probably the owner of the death effect Haruyuki had felt a mere number of dozens of seconds ago. He recognized the hue of the light. That was— Ash’s friend who was like a younger brother to him, «Bush Utan», without a doubt.
In a moment, Haruyuki intuitively realized what had happened here while he and Utai were fighting hard to escape the Imperial Palace.
It was probably like this.
Ash Roller, who had been waiting for their dive time of seven in the evening inside the car parked in the underground of the real-world apartment house, had participated in the gallery of someone’s duel while standing by. In that stage, he had run across Bush Utan, who was either a duelist or likewise a spectator. There, he had persuaded Utan and instructed him to meet up at the same time in the Unlimited Neutral Field. In order for him to convey something that needed to be conveyed to Utan as his big brother.
That rendezvous place was probably in the direction of Shibuya. For that reason, before joining the four members of Nega Nebulas at seven in the evening sharp in front of the apartment house, he had dived early and headed for Shibuya to bring Utan along.
However, the place and time had somewhere—probably in the duel field where he was part of the gallery been leaked to one of the equippers of the ISS Kit. They had lain in ambush in front of the Meiji Shrine in order to hunt Ash and Utan as prey. Ash, who had taken a surprise attack from an Incarnate technique of darkness, had gotten away this far with all his might even while his bike was receiving damage, but in the end his beloved bike had been destroyed. No, that was not all. If he had dived into this world slightly earlier than seven o’clock in the evening, then
Haruyuki guessed that over ten hours had already elapsed. Basically— undoubtedly, at this place he along with Bush Utan had died and been resurrected repeatedly no few number of times.
In the Unlimited Neutral Field, Enhanced Armaments that had been completely lost once did not regenerate unless one carried out a relogin[44] into the field. Even if Ash Roller lost all his health gauge, died, and respawned one hour later, the American bike in which he had invested nearly all his potential as a duel avatar would not be brought back.
In short, the Burst Linkers standing in that place had surrounded Ash Roller, who had lost practically all his combat ability, with six men and furthermore were tormenting him to death with the strength of the Mind Power of darkness the ISS Kit produced.
Again and again. Again and again. Again and again and again and again—…
“W...a, ah…”
From the throat of Haruyuki, who was hovering, a husky voice leaked out.
Without the sign of even noticing that, one of the six walked up to Ash Roller, who was crouching on the road surface. His middle-class form was rather unremarkable, but there was a slight sense of volume in his hands. Haruyuki also had the feeling that he had caught sight of him somewhere, but he could not remember his name.
“Next…it’s my turn right. I wonder…does he still have points remaining?”
The avatar who had lazily put that into words clutched Ash’s helmet with his large right hand from which a dusky aura was being discharged. A dull crack! sound reverberated, and his trademark scarface was splintered into smithereens.
The aggressor seized anew the exposed neck of the duel avatar who gave off a delicate impression considering his character and who in some respects seemed like a young boy.
With all his strength, he dragged Ash Roller, who was still trying to defend Utan’s marker light, up from the road. The eyes of Ash, who had been forced to face upward, sighted Haruyuki, who had frozen on the roof of a building.
His pale green eye lenses opened wide for an instant—following that, they seemed as if they were weakly laughing. In Haruyuki’s consciousness, his normally reckless and boisterous voice reverberated in a manner that tended to cut off.
…Heh heh…I made, a blunder. My bad, Crow…I made the feelings of you and Master…go to wast…
Glug. That blunt sound resounded; the assailant’s left arm had deeply penetrated the middle of Ash’s chest.
A pillar of gray light towered, and the thin avatar burst and scattered, rider suit and all.
While being showered in his scattered fragments, the attacker, perhaps looking at his own Install menu, slightly tilted his head and spoke.
“Oh, with one more time I’ll be able to level up. It’d be nice if he remained till my next turn, huh.”
Haruyuki’s whole body trembled so strongly that it seemed as if it would disintegrate. His limbs, tense to their limit, creaked with a grinding sound, and underneath his helmet his teeth rang repeatedly. The voice that leaked out from his throat had collapsed and was cracked in a tone so low to the extent where he himself had never heard it.
“Ah…a, a, aaah…AAAAH…”
From head to foot, it seemed as if he were filled with liquid of quite a low temperature. No, it might have even been the super-intense heat of melted iron. At the very least, it was unmistakable that a vast emotion had been compressed and was running through his entire body in place of blood.
Rage.
Anger. A fury so great it made his view red hot. Blackish hatred. And then the impetus to destroy.
“AH…AA, A, AAAAH…!”
Shiing.
That sharp metallic sound rang out from Haruyuki’s hands. Silver Crow’s slender ten fingers had sharpened, curved, and been enlarged like the claws of a bird of prey. At the same time, his armor color changed too. From a shining mirror silver to a chrome silver like a shadow.
…You mustn’t!
…You mustn’t entrust yourself to that emotion! You will disappear…!
Someone had shouted far away, very far away. However, that faint voice no longer reached Haruyuki’s consciousness.
The metallic sound did not stop; Haruyuki’s two arms were covered in chrome supplementary armor. Both his legs too. That form, whose edges were so effective they were atrocious, was far more sinister and looked more like that of a demon than when it had previously materialized at Hermes Cord.
Instead of the girl’s voice, a voice distorted by a metallic quality resounded throughout his mind.
—I am thee. Thou art me.
—Passing through a time of eternity, now at last have I been resurrected. I am «disaster». I am «demise». I be the one who makes the sound of the bell of the end ring out to the world.
It was exactly the same as the voice he had heard after school today in the real-world Umesato Middle rear garden, but different from that time he felt no pain whatsoever. Basically, this was not negative Mind Power’s
«overflow». Haruyuki himself had called that awake and had yearned to fuse with it.
At the same its voice rang, Haryuki called its name.
——My name is—— “……«Chrome Disaster»——!!”
That yell, which had ferociously surged forth, was the very howl of a beast that hungered for blood and desired massacre. Purple system font traversed the upper left hand of his field of vision from left to right like a flash of lightning in one go.
【YOU EQUIPPED AN ENHANCED ARMAMENT «THE DISASTER»】
While releasing a violent metallic sound, armor resembling a demon’s fangs heavily covered him from his stomach to his breast. A sharp tail lengthened out in a slithery way from his back, and his two wings changed into a silhouette like some sort of weapon.
A visor in the imitation of the jaw of a beast swallowed up his smoothly round helmet from the top and bottom without leaving a gap. His view was wrapped up in a thin gray additional layer.
In the skies overhead, the dark clouds of the Demonic City stage were making an enormous whirlpool. From its center, a jet-black thunderbolt poured down together with a thunderous roar. Haruyuki received that with his outstretched right hand.
The thunderbolt stayed in his hand as it was, changed shape, and produced an object. A long sword possessing a hilt that shone black and a blade that was fiercely sharpened. A high ranking Enhanced Armament called by the name of «Star Caster» in the distant past.
That very thing was the binary star of destiny that twinkled in a bewitching manner and nestled close to the side of the sixth star
«Kaiyou», alias the original of the Disaster Armor, the Divine Weapon
«The Destiny». The eighth star of the Big Dipper—. Brandishing the cursed sword high, Haruyuki howled. “GR…AAAAAAAH!!”
That war cry was filled with rage and hatred, but as if weeping in some way, it resounded throughout the sky of the Accelerated World.
(To be continued)
Author’s Notes
I am Kawahara Reki. Thank you for having read Accel World 8: Binary Star of Destiny.
In this volume, the ambiguous term «image power» became a key word; since I believe there are some readers for whom it just doesn’t strike home, allow me to borrow this occasion to make a slight supplement.
I believe that the power of one’s image, the thing called imagination, is the greatest ability that humans possess. The reason is that the power to imagine is the sole thing that is not «output in opposition to input» but output that the human consciousness can produce from zero.
Although it seems like one won’t understand it right away (laughs), the point is, maybe the thing called the power to imagine isn’t confined to the specialized fields of the arts, literature, science, and sports but is very important and valid even in our daily lives repeated every day. For instance, anyone who lives has lots of enjoyable things and other painful things, difficult things. I believe that perhaps in first thinking of a way to cope with them after confronting them, imagining them before the fact, and preparing to accept them, the energy required or even the result also changes.
After rising every morning, while checking that day’s plans one by one, I do things in a way such that in the case I have disagreeable things or tedious things I imagine how to manage them. Whether that’s actually
helping or not is not too certain (laughs), but nevertheless when one begins to actually take action, one can feel that one’s resolution has been decided just a little bit. Today, after this at the dentist’s my teeth will be polished, so I will imagine the bzzz feeling with all my might!
In addition to that, in this volume Haruyuki-kun was able to do his best in the basketball match due to his image power, but even though there was some exaggeration in that, I believe it’s not a downright lie either. I’m also a person who’s super-poor at exercising, but when I’m putting out the speed of my limit on my bicycle, the time that I can keep going greatly differs in whether I imagine my breathing and pedaling or not.
Though I won’t be exercising the Incarnate system and be putting out 60 km/h. For now. …In the end, it seems that this has become an essay where one can’t understand what’s what (laughs), but if you please, everyone, please also try imagining various things! Oh, and my apologies for letting the story continue on again! Next time for sure it’ll absolutely end! Really!
To my editor Miki-san (former basketball club member) and illustrator HIMA-san, I’m sorry to have caused you trouble in having my manuscript be overdue this time as well! And then all my readers, although the times are rough, while imagining the future let us try our hardest together!
2011 April 14th, Kawahara Reki
